THE PROBABLE IDENTITY OF STRO- 
PHARIA EPIMYCES (PECK) ATK. 
WITH PILOSACE ALGERI- 
ENSIS FRIES 
Edward T. Harper 
While making notes on the species of Stropharia reported from 
this country to accompany some photographs soon to appear in the 
Transactions of the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, my atten- 
tion was called by my brother, Prof. R. A. Harper, to the fact 
that Lanzi’s figures of Pilosace algeriensis Quel. (Fungi Mang. 
/)/. ( 5 /. /. j) closely resemble epimyces Pk. or Stropharia 
coprinophila Atk. The drawings by Miss Helen Sherman (Jour. 
Myc. II : pi. 8o) and the photographs by Prof. Atkinson (Plant 
World, June, 1907) show a striking resemblance to Lanzi’s 
figures and a comparison of the published descriptions confirms 
the evidence of close relationship between the European and 
American plants. The size and shape of both plants is the same, 
pileus 1-2 inches broad, stem 1-2 inches long, up to Yi inch 
thick. The stem of the European plant is solid or stuffed, that 
of the American plant is the same, becoming hollow when old. 
The pileus and stem in both plants are whitish and silky. Both 
have purplish-brown or blackish spores. Peck gives the meas- 
urements 5-6 X 7-5-9 /-<•• Miss Sherman says the spores are 
slightly larger, up to 7 X 10 |U.. Atkinson gives the measurements 
3.5~4.5 X 7-8 ju ; Lanzi 5.5 X 6.5-7 /a, and describes them as in- 
equilateral or slightly reniform. Quelet reported the spores as 
subsphaeroid, 8 ju in diameter. The greatest difference appears 
to be in the reports as to the attachment of the gills. Lanzi says 
the gills are distant from the stem and free. Peck described them 
as rounded-adnexed. Atkinson says the gills are adnate to 
adnexed, slightly sinuate or rounded, and he places the plant in 
the genus Stropharia, but reports the stem as separating easily 
from the pileus, which is a character of plants with free gills. 
The comparison proves the very close relationship of the two 
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