Murrill; Illustrations of Fungi 
225 
I have always found it mild in flavor and therefore presumably 
edible, although a French chart includes it among the dangerous 
species. It should be thoroughly tested and carefully compared 
with related species before being used for food. Its large size, 
firmness, and comparative freedom from insect attack would 
make it desirable if perfectly harmless. Few species of Russula 
have these qualities, which are so important when considering 
mushrooms for food. 
Lactaria Hibbardae Peck 
Hibbard’s Lactaria 
Plate 163. Figure 8. X 1 
Pileus rather thin, broadly convex or nearly plane, slightly de- 
pressed, solitary or gregarious, 4-6 cm. broad ; surface dry, fu- 
mosous, concentrically zonate, subglabrous ; context very thin, firm, 
white; latex white, unchanging, decidedly acrid at once; lamellae 
adnate, rather narrow, subdistant, cream-colored ; spores globose, 
roughly echinulate, hyaline, 7-9 stipe equal, cylindric, smooth, 
glabrous, concolorous, about 3.5 cm. long and i cm. thick. 
This species has been found a few times in Massachusetts and 
Vermont on the ground under coniferous trees, and I have col- 
lected it twice in the New York Botanical Garden under decidu- 
ous trees. In one case, the plants grew in considerable number on 
a lawn beneath a clump of oaks and maples. The authentic 
specimens of L. Hibbardae which I have seen appear to repre- 
sent young stages only, and these agree perfectly with the young 
stages in my own collections. Some mycologists might possibly 
consider L. Hibbardae a small fumose variety of the common L. 
ligniota, but the color is decidedly distinct and shows no tendency 
to vary. The latex is white and acrid at once, but not so violent 
as that of L. piperata, for example. 
Clavaria fusiformis Sow. 
Fusiform Clavaria 
Plate 163. Figure 9. X i 
Hymenophore densely clustered ; clubs fusoid, rarely nearly 
cylindric, attenuate both at the apex and at the base, nearly erect. 
