280 



NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



sometimes yellowish ; spores broadly elliptical, whitish, .00024 

 to .00028 in. long. 



The Meadow hygrophorus, also called Pasture hygrophorus 

 and Buff-caps, is a rather small but stout-appearing mushroom, 

 which is quite variable in the color of its cap. This is commonly 

 buff or yellowish, more or less tinged with red or tawny hues. 

 Sometimes it is almost white. When young, the cap is nearly 

 hemispherical or strongly convex, but with advancing age the 

 thick fleshy center becomes more prominent. In full maturity 

 the thin margin is apt to be extended horizontally so that the 

 surface of the cap is nearly flat and its shape resembles an in- 

 verted cone whose sides are fluted by the widely separated gills. 

 The flesh is white or nearly so and has a mild taste. 



The thick gills extend far down on the stem in the mature 

 plant, and in the bottom of the spaces between them cross veins 

 may be seen connecting them together. 



The stem is mostly white, or if tinged at all with the color of 

 the cap, it is paler than it. Sometimes it tapers downward, be- 

 coming more narrow at the base than in the upper part. Its sur- 

 face is smooth. 



Cap one to two inches broad, stem one to two inches long, 

 one-fourth to one-half an inch thick. 



This species grows in old pastures and clearings or in thin 

 woods. It is often found in old abandoned fields partly over- 

 grown with brakes and bushes. It may be found from July to 

 September. 



It has, for many years and by nearly all writers on this sub- 

 ject, been classed with the edible species, and Dr. Cooke pro- 

 nounces it to be thoroughly wholesome and of delicate flavor. 



Hygrophorus miniatus Fr. 



Vermilion Hygrophorus. 



Plate 28 Figs. 1 to 10. 



Pileus thin, fragile, at first convex, becoming nearly plane, 

 glabrous or minutely squamulose, often umbilicate, generally 

 red; lamellae distant, adnate, yellow, often tinged with red; 

 stem slender, glabrous, colored like the pileus ; spores elliptical, 

 white, .0003 in. long. 



