Murrill: Illustrations of Fungi 



3 



Vaginata farinosa (Schw.) Murrill 



Mealy Agaric 



Plate 56. Figure 5. X i 



Piletis thin, nearly plane, 2-3 cm. broad; surface grayish to 

 murinous, deeply striate on the margin, floccose-powdery, espe- 

 cially on the disk; lamellae free, white; spores subglobose to 

 ovoid or ellipsoid, smoth, 6-7 /x ; stipe cylindric, hollow or stuffed, 

 white or gray, subbulbous, farinaceous, 4-7 cm. long, 3-6 mm. 

 thick ; volva floccose-powdery, evanescent. 



This species was described from North Carolina as an Amanita 

 and later placed in Amanitopsis. It is more common in Virginia 

 and farther south than it is in New York, although occurring in 

 open deciduous woods throughout the eastern United States. The 

 plant is too small and scattered to be considered economically. 



Pleurotus geogenius (DC.) Quel. 



Earth-loving Pleurotus 



Plate 56. Figure 6. X i 



Pileus fleshy, erect, fan-shaped or semi-infundibuliform, often 

 divided nearly to the base, at other times wavy or lobed at the 

 margin, which is at first incurved, 4-9 cm. broad ; surface smoth, 

 glabrous above, whitish-pruinose behind, avellaneous-isabelline to 

 chestnut-brown, dry or viscid according to the weather ; lamellae 

 white, narrow, crowded, sometimes forked behind, decurrent to 

 the base of the stipe or nearly so ; spores subovoid, smooth, hya- 

 line, 7-8 X 3-5-4 /'t; cystidia fusoid, hyaline, 60-70 X 12-15 /a ; 

 stipe always lateral with a dorsal groove, short, white, pruinose, 

 1-3 cm. long, 5-15 mm. thick; flesh white, with farinaceous odor 

 and taste. 



For the last three seasons, this species has appeared in abund- 

 ance on my lawn in the shadow of the house, and I have had the 

 opportunity to study it very closely. On first comparing it in 

 Europe with specimens of P. geogenius^ it seemed very different, 

 the European form being darker, thicker, and firmer, with longer 

 and thicker stipe. Specimens collected last October, however, 

 were much darker than usual, and others found later near Seattle, 

 Washington, first by Mr. S. M. Zeller and afterwards by myself 

 on two occasions, proved to be quite typical both in color and 



