REPORT OF THE STATE BOTANIST 



279 



clustered and overlapped very much as in that species, and the 

 gills are the same in both. For table purposes there is little need 

 of keeping the two distinct. Both are much more liable to be 

 infested by insects than the Elm pleurotus. Both grow on decaying 

 wood and at the same season and under similar conditions. The 

 Oyster mushroom is apparently much less frequent in our State 

 than the Sapid mushroom. It has long been classed among the 

 esculent species, but in consequence of the toughness of its flesh it 

 does not rank as a mushroom of first quality. Miss Banning states 

 that she has eaten it both raw and cooked, but that she failed to 

 detect any resemblance between its flavor and that of the oyster. 

 Dr. Cooke says that it is a fleshy fungus, and when slowly and 

 carefully cooked it is a pleasant and digestible one, but that it 

 may be spoiled by bad treatment. French writers speak well of 

 it and agree that it is both safe and excellent, but some recom- 

 mend it only while young and tender. No charge of b Aug dele- 

 terious is brought against it. 



The remaining white-spored genera here represented differ 

 from all the preceding either in the character of the gills or of 

 the flesh. 



Hygrophorus Fr. 



In the genus Hygrophorus the gills of the mature plant have 

 a soft waxy texture which distinguishes them from all others. 

 They are not easily separable into the two membranes which 

 form their two surfaces, as in the preceding genera. As in 

 Pleurotus, the gills of some of the species are rounded or 

 notched at the end next the stem, but of others they are decur- 

 rent on it. Those with decurrent gills bear considerable external 

 resemblance to the species of Clitocybe, but the gills are generally 

 thicker and much further apart than in that genus. No species 

 of Hygrophorus is known to be dangerous, though two or three 

 have been classed as suspected. 



Hygrophorus pratensis Fr. 



Meadow Hygrophorus. Pasture Hygrophorus. 



Plate 28. Figs 11 to 17. 



Pileus compact, convex turbinate or nearly flat, glabrous, the 

 margin thin ; lamellae thick, distant, decurrent, whitish or yellow- 

 ish, the interspaces veiny ; stem short, glabrous, white or whitish, 



