Am.  Jour.  Pharm. ) 
December,  1896.  / 
Mushrooms  and  Fungi. 
655 
hot-houses  ;  some  grow  from  sawdust,  spent  tan  and  like  mediums. 
There  is  one  species — the  Vittadini — a  large,  white  plant,  covered 
with  floccy  drapery,  growing  solitary  in  the  woods,  which  is  said 
to  be  poisonous.  I  have  never  found  but  one  specimen,  and,  so,  have 
not  yet  tested  it.  It  is  an  intermediate,  and  should  be  relegated  to 
the  Amanita.    There  are  over  thirty  species  of  the  Lepiota. 
Some  mycologists  have  separated  from  the  Amanita  a  few  spe- 
cies which  do  not  have  the  ring,  but  retain  the  volva  in  the  shape  of 
a  vagina,  clinging  close  to  the  not  bulbous  stem,  and  made  a  new 
sub-genus — Vaginatus.  Most  of  you  are  familiar  with  a  slender- 
stemmed,  tall,  bluish-gray  capped  toadstool,  quite  Quakerish  in 
appearance,  showing  a  ribbed  or  sulcate  surface  on  the  top,  which 
grows  singly  on  lawns,  under  willows,  oaks,  chestnuts  and  in  the 
woods.  This  species  is  the  Vaginatus  Cecilia.  It  is  tender  as 
choice  asparagus  and  more  delicate  in  flavor.  Another  species,  more 
robust  than  the  Cecilia,  but  like  it  in  all  respects,  excepting  its  bright 
chestnut-colored  cap,  is  equally  as  fine  eating. 
In  the  genus  Tricholoma  there  are  between  80  and  100  species, 
none  of  which  are  noxious  ;  most  of  them  are  excellent ;  a  few  are 
uninviting  to  sight,  taste  and  smell.  The  mark  distinguishing  this 
from  all  the  white-spored  genera  is  that  the  gills  are  sinuate — 
that  is,  connected  with  the  stem  by  a  sinus — a  tooth. 
The  sub-genus  Clitocybe,  meaning  steep  declivity,  because  the 
stem  dilates  at  and  is  continuous  with  the  top ;  the  gills  are, 
therefore,  attenuated  behind,  acute,  adnate  or  decurrent,  never  sinu- 
ate. They  grow  upon  the  ground.  Notwithstanding  that  the 
books/- say:  "  very  few  are  edible,"  very  many  of  the  upwards  of 
seventy-five  species  are  good  as  any  ;  others  are  tough  ;  some  strong 
in  taste  and  odor.  I  do  not  believe  there  is  a  poisonous  species 
among  them. 
Another  sub-genus,  the  Collybia — meaning  a  small  coin — numbers 
in  the  neighborhood  of  seventy-five  species.  The  stems  have  carti- 
laginous cuticle  and  are  rooting.  They  grow  upon  wood,  leaves, 
even  fungi.  The  caps  of  many  of  them  are  very  fine  eating.  None 
of  them  contain  even  minor  poisons.  Some  are  tough,  others 
strong.  One  species,  which  is  often  found  upon  wooded  lawns,  with 
an  attractive  mouse-colored  top,  very  wide  white  gills,  tall,  thin 
stem,  and  very  long  pointed  root — the  Longipes — is  as  good  as 
any. 
