72 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters. 
the pileus is commonly convex, later explanate and finally de¬ 
pressed. 
Massee separates the Russulas into two groups according to 
their acrid or mild taste, and makes this feature the principal 
basis for classification. 
I found that certain specimens of B. alutacea were intensely 
peppery the instant they were tasted, others of the same species, 
were more slowly peppery. In some cases, the pileus of B. al- 
utacea is quite mild, but the gills of the same plant are peppery. 
For these reasons it does not appear that the taste is a suitable 
cnaracteristic upon which to divide the genus. The word acrid 
is used by Massee synonomously with hot or peppery. This use 
of terms is misleading for, to many people, the words peppery 
and acrid convey different meanings. 
While the taste characteristic is hardly sufficiently constant to 
be used as the chief basis of classification, it is a point which no 
collector should fail to test on the fresh specimens. 
The flesh is white in most cases and spongy, but may become 
discolored by being bruised or upon drying. When there is a 
separable cuticle, a little of it should be removed, for oftentimes 
the flesh beneath has a characteristic color. 
A number of the Russulas have characteristic odors. Our Wis¬ 
consin species, B. foe-lens, derives its name from this feature. 
The odor is pungent and nauseating and is present in the fungus 
at all stages of its development. Curiously enough, I find the 
odor of the dried specimen is very pleasant. B. atropurpurea 
develops an exceedingly rank odor while drying. 
The gills are usually inter veined, a point which should be 
noted in the fresh specimens, as later it is difficult to observe. 
'The attachment of the gills to the pileus is an important charac¬ 
teristic and on this point it is advisable to examine as many 
specimens and at as many different ages as possible, for fre¬ 
quently gills which appear in young specimens to be free, upon 
the expansion of the pileus become apparently decurrent or ad- 
nate. 
It is of considerable value to compare the color of the fresh 
gills with a color chart, for there is a color change so delicate 
from white to straw, from straw to cream and from cream to 
