Harper—Species of Pholiota and Stropharia. 1015 
difficult to draw the line between purple brown and rusty brown 
spores, and the method of tearing of the veil varies in different 
plants in the same species. 
The genus falls naturally into two groups: plants growing 
on the ground or on rotten wood, Mundae (clean), and plants 
growing on dung, Merdariae. Of the species growing on the 
ground some have a viscid pileus, Viscipelles, and others have 
the pileus dry and more or less squamose, Spintrigerae. The spe¬ 
cies growing on dung closely resemble forms of Panaeolus and 
are separated by their spore color alone. 
With the exception of Stropharia semiglobata the species or 
Stropharia are not common and have little value as food plants. 
Some like Stropharia aeruginosa are suspected of being poison¬ 
ous. As they grow on the ground and rotten logs they do 
little damage to other plants or to timber and hence have little 
economic significance. 
Synopsis of the Species. 
A. Growing on the ground, Mundae. 
I. With a viscid pileus, Viscipelles. 
The Stropharia depilata group. Pileus brown or yellow cov¬ 
ered with a thick glutinous pellicle and the stem usually covered 
with white, ffoocose, squarrose scales. 
Stropharia depilata (Pers.) Pis. LXII, LXIII. 
Related species: Stropharia hardii, Atk. 
The Stropharia aeruginosa group. Pileus covered with green 
gluten. Stem scaly or smooth. 
Stropharia aeruginosa (Curt.) PI LXIV. 
Related species: Stropharia albo-cyanea, Desmaz., Stropharia micro- 
poda, Morg. 
The Stropharia coronilla group. Pileus viscid but not glut¬ 
inous, stem smooth. Plants resembling those of the praec^x- 
dura group in the genus Pholiota. 
Stropharia coronilla, Bull. PL LXV A. 
Stropharia obturata, Fr. PL LXV1 ABC. 
Related species: Stropharia bilamellata, Pk. Stropharia mela- 
sperma, Bull. Stropharia drymonia, Morg. Stropharia caesifolia, Pk. 
