This, the only genus of Thelephoraceæ containing edible fungi, has the form and general appearance of Cantharellus to which it is allied, but it is distinguished by its nearly even hymenium, which in Cantharellus has the form of gills, fold-like and thick but still distinctly gills. The species vary from fleshy to membranaceous, all having a funnel-shaped pileus and stem merging into it. On the ground. Autumn. The slightly veined surface where the spores are borne, and the spores themselves, when a microscope is brought to bear upon them, distinguish this genus from Cantharellus; and its thin flesh and funnel-shape from the large forms of Pistillaria. Several of the species are edible. It is probable that all are.

Toadstools, despite their name, are more popularly associated with fairies than with toads. “Fairy rings,” “Fairy Bread” and “Fairy Clubs” are titles belonging to them, and these link us to the pretty belief of childhood—a belief we often do not outgrow. A group of C. lutescens or C. cornucopoides may well be likened to fairy trumpets, or to a tiny orchestrion thrusting its horns through wood earth where roots of stumps abound.

C. cantharel´lus Schw. (Plate [XLVI], fig. 3.) Capn. across, convex, often becoming depressed and funnel-shaped, glabrous, yellowish or pinkish-yellow. Flesh white, tough, elastic. Hymenium slightly wrinkled, yellow or faint salmon color. Stem 1–3 in. high, 3–5 lines thick, glabrous, solid, yellow. Spores on white paper yellowish or pale salmon.

Spores 7.5–10×5–6µ Peck.

West Virginia, McIlvaine.

No one not looking for minute botanic details would separate this species from Cantharellus cibarius, especially if found growing near or with it. The pinkish tinge sometimes present in C. cantharellus I have never observed in C. cibarius. The present species is of equal excellence.

Grouped by Val Starnes—Studies by C. McIlvaine. Plate CXXXVI.

Fig.Page.Fig.Page.
1. Spathularia clavata,[549]6. Hygrophorus coccineus,[156]
2. Peziza coccinea,[559]7. Craterellus sinuosus, var. crispus,[510]
3. Peziza aurantia,[557]8. Craterellus cornucopoides,[509]
4. Cantharellus aurantiacus,[216]9. Cantharellus lutescens,[218]
5. Hypomyces lactifluorum,[562]

C. cornucopoi´des Pers.—cornu and copiæ, horn of plenty. (Plate [CXXXVI], fig. 8, p. 508.) Cap dark sooty shades of gray or brown—shades of well-worn velveteen—1–2 in. across, whole plant from 2–4 in. high, trumpet-shaped, or like a funnel with its open mouth, plane, wavy, split or in folds. Substance very thin and either brittle or tough. The inside is sometimes minutely scaly, the opening extending to the base; outside, where the spores are borne, it has neither gills, pores nor protuberances, but a slightly uneven surface varying little in color. Stem obsolete or seldom noticeable. Odor slight.