NOTES AND QUERIES ON RUSSULAE. 
33 
There are instances in which the gills are tinted more or less, but 
the spores are as white as in species which have permanently white 
gills. 
The colour of the pileus deserves some remark. It has been 
considered hitherto that colour in the pileus is so very variable in 
this genus that it is absolutely valueless. No doubt this idea 
originated in the days when all Russulce came under one or two 
species. Ultimately we venture to think that colour will be 
accepted to be as permanent in Russula as in Amanita or Hygro- 
phorus — taking “ permanent ” to mean persistency in the same 
tones of colour in the different species. Many of the colours are 
very bright, and in some instances is confined to a thin cuticle, so 
that decoloration, more than usual, may be looked for, but this is a 
discharge of colour, and not an alteration of colour. And to a 
limited extent the turning yellow or the darkening of tints by age, 
moisture, or decay, would be regarded as natural changes, the 
original tone being preserved, and not a variation of colouring in 
the general acceptation of that term.* 
Some of the high-coloured and over-coloured figures of Russula , 
in the books of the early part of the present century, helped to 
keep alive the notion of the very great variability of colour in 
this genus, whereas the undoubted fact is, that a great deal of the 
variability existed in the minds of the several authors, and the 
paint boxes of their artists. No figures of u Champignons ” have 
been so exaggerated and overdone as Russula ; in fact, many of 
them are only caricatures. Impossible greens, coerulean blues, and 
reds gone mad characterize the majority. There is no more hope- 
less task than the attempt to classify under their respective species 
the legion of figures of Russula, which have dazzled the world. 
Illustrating our thesis that coloration in Russula is not such an 
indefinite and intangible thing as some have alleged, we will take 
one or two of the worst species. 
First and foremost, one of the most protean in colour, as under- 
stood by Fries, was Russula fragilis. Judging from the figures, it 
is green, green and pink, pink, scarlet, crimson, purple, violet, red- 
brown, yellow, ochraceous, and white, and perhaps something more. 
First of all we strike out green , as no ingredient, wholly or in 
* It was our intention to have remarked upon the loose application some- 
times made of the two words “ decoloration ” and “ discoloration,” and 
must do so in a foot note. We would contend that they do not imply the 
same thing, and should be recognized at their true value. “Discoloration” 
may be an alteration of colour, from one colour to another, as a purple 
disc may be discoloured brown, or a pink edge turn foxy, but we contend 
that this is not “ decoloration,” which is a process of blanching, or dis- 
charge of colour like that which takes place in Russula depallens. Hence 
“discoloration” may be a change of colour, but “decoloration” an 
absolute loss of colour. It is by a clear definition of terms that something 
will be done to facilitate study, and even this remark need not have been 
made, but that some persons who have written books appear to interpret 
both words alike. 
