340 SECTION HYGROPHORUS 



fruiting bodies. However, when a good collection of young freshly de- 

 veloping specimens was finally located, it was evident at once that we 

 were dealing with a distinct color form. The cinereous tone in perfectly 

 developing material is of significance since there generally has been a 

 strong tendency to regard color as a primary character in this genus. 

 Singer ( 1951 ) has placed considerable emphasis upon it, and all in- 

 vestigators have tended to regard the H. pudorinus group as quite dis- 

 tinct from the H. pustulatus group. The discovery of H. pudorinus f. 

 subcinereus points to a possible, heretofore unsuspected, bridge be- 

 tween these groups. 



It would be interesting to culture var. subcinereus and get it to 

 produce fruiting bodies. On two occasions, groups of carpophores of f. 

 pudorinus were found in which there was a sector of the gray-capped 

 carpophores of var. subcinereus. Both types appeared to be coming 

 from the same mycelium. Such circumstantial evidence as this, of 

 course, is anything but conclusive, but when one meets such a situation 

 twice in a few days, it is very suggestive. 



SERIES RUBENTES (Fr.) stat. nov. 



Subsection Rubentes Fries, Hymen. Eur., p. 407. 1874. 

 Characters as given in key to series, page 309. 

 Type species: Hygrophorus erubescens Fr. 





Key to Species 



1. Taste of pellicle bitter and persistent; lamellae "ivory yellow" (pale 



greenish yellow) at first 206. H. amarus 



1. Not with above combination of characters 2 



2. Lamellae crowded, markedly decurrent and narrow 



207. H. proximus 



2. Lamellae broader and more distant 3 



3. Fibrillose veil present (check expanded caps) . . . .208. H. purpurascens 

 3. Veil absent 4 



4. Spores 8-12 X 2-3.2 ^ 209. H. russuliformis 



4. Spores broader 5 



5. Lamellae close to crowded; growing in deciduous woods 



210. H. russula 



5. Lamellae distant to subdistant, rarely close 6 



6. When mature the pileus, gills, and stipe evenly dark vinaceous red 

 211. H. capreolarius 



6. Not evenly colored at maturity 7 



7. Pileus 5-8 cm broad; stipe 4-7 cm long, 6-12 mm thick 



212. H. erubescens var. erubescens 



7. Pileus 2-3 cm broad; stipe 6-10 long, 4-8 mm thick 



213. H. erubescens var. gracilis 



