Volvaria speciosa Fr.—This plant seems to be rare, but it has a wide distribution in Europe and the United States. It occurs on richly manured ground, on dung, etc. The plants are 10–20 cm. high, the cap 6–12 cm. broad, and the stem 1–2 cm. in thickness. The entire plant is white or whitish, sometimes grayish, especially at the center, where it is also sometimes darker and of a smoky color.
The pileus is globose when young, then bell-shaped, and finally more or less expanded, and umbonate, smooth, very viscid, so that earth, leaves, etc., cling to it. The flesh is white and very soft. The gills are free, flesh colored to reddish or fulvous, from the deeply colored spores. The spores are broadly elliptical, or oval, 12–18 × 8–10 µ. The stem is nearly cylindrical, or tapering evenly from the base, when young more or less hairy, becoming smooth. The volva is large, edge free, but fitting very close, flabby and irregularly torn.
The species is reported from California by McClatchie, and from Wisconsin by Bundy.
Specimens were received in June, 1898, from Dr. Post of Lansing, Mich., which were collected there in a potato patch. It was abundant during May and June. Plants which were sent in a fresh condition were badly decayed by the time they reached Ithaca, and the odor was very disagreeable. It is remarkable that the odor was that of rotting potatoes! In this connection might be mentioned Dr. Peck's observation (Bull. Torr. Bot. Club 26: p. 67, 1899) that Agaricus maritimus Pk., which grows near the seashore, possessed "a taste and odor suggestive of the sea."
McClatchie reports that it is common in cultivated soil, especially grain fields and along roads, and that it is "a fine edible agaric and our most abundant one in California."
CLITOPILUS Fr.
In the rosy-spored agarics belonging to this genus the gills are decurrent, that is, extend for some distance down on the stem. The stem is fleshy. The gills are white at first and become pink or salmon color as the plants mature, and the spores take on their characteristic color. The plants should thus not be confused with any of the species of Agaricus to which the common mushroom belongs, since in those species the gills become dark brown or blackish when mature. The genus corresponds with Clitocybe among the white-spored ones.
Clitopilus prunulus Scop. Edible.—This species grows on the ground in the woods from mid-summer to autumn. It is not very common, but sometimes appears in considerable quantities at one place. During the autumn of 1898 quite a large number of specimens were found in a woods near Ithaca, growing on the ground around an old stump. The plants are 3–8 cm. high, the cap 5–10 cm. broad, and stem 1–2 cm. in thickness.
