The species is not noticeably viscid after its youth. The viscidity can be detected in old specimens by moistening the pileus. Its flavor is not marked, nor is its texture as pleasing as most others of its genus, but being a late species it satisfies the longing of the mycophagist for his accustomed food.
P. pulmona´rius Fr.—pulmo, lung, from texture. Pileus 2–3 in. broad, ash-colored, continuous with the stem, fleshy, soft, but tough, flaccid, obovate or kidney-shaped, plane or reflexo-conchate at the margin, even, smooth. Flesh thin, soft, white. Stem very short, solid, exactly lateral, horizontal or ascending, round, villous, expanded into the pileus. Gills decurrent but ending determinately, moderately broad, distinct, not branched or anastomosing at the base, livid or ash-color.
The primary form is solitary. The pileus is ashy-tan when dried. It differs from A. salignus alike in the definitely lateral stem and in the thin flaccid pileus. Fries.
Not previously reported.
Found by Miss Madeleine Le Moyne, Washington, Pa., September, 1898, and sent to writer. Gills 3 lines broad, not narrow in proportion to flesh.
Taste and smell similar to P. ostreatus. Cooked it is tender, and more succulent than P. ostreatus.
III.—Resupina´ti.
P. mastruca´tus Fr.—mastruca, a sheepskin. Pileus up to 2 in. long and 1 in. broad, sessile, at first resupinate then expanded and horizontal, often lobed, upper stratum of pileus gelatinous, brown, bristling with squarrose or erect squamules. Flesh thickish. Gills radiating from the point of attachment, broad, rather distant, grayish-white.
On old trunks. Imbricated. Readily distinguished by the brown, squarrosely scaly pileus. Massee.
Spores oblong, oblique, 8×5µ Morgan.