ies Melanosporae.

[Illustration: Plate IX.
EDIBLE
Agaricus (Hypholoma) _Candollianus_, Fries., variety _incertus_ Peck
Figured from specimens collected in the District of Columbia
T. Taylor, del.]

PLATE IX.

=Agaricus (Hypholoma) incertus= Peck. (_Hypholoma incertum_.)

EDIBLE.

Cap fleshy but fragile, smooth and hygrophanous, moist; at first convex,
then expanding; color creamy white. Gills adnate, narrow, crowded,
whitish in young specimens, turning to a pinkish dun color, later to a
rosy cinnamon, sometimes showing when mature a slightly purplish tint.
Stem smooth, slender, long and hollow, with slight striations near the
apex, white. Specimens occur in which the stem is obscurely annulate
arising from the attachment to it of fragments of the veil, but usually
it is ringless.

The typical species of Hypholoma have the fleshy part of the cap
confluent with the stem, but in H. _incertum_ the stem is not confluent
and is easily separated from the cap as in the Lepiotas. This mushroom
was first recorded by Peck in his early reports as the variety
"_incertus_" of the species Agaricus (Hypholoma) Candollianus, but has
since been recorded by Saccardo as a distinct species, Hypholoma
incertum.

Two species of Hypholoma have the same habit and sufficiently resemble
_incertum_ to be taken for it, if not carefully examined as to points of
difference. These are H. _Candollianum_, named in honor of A. De
Candolle, and H. _appendiculatum_. In the first named of these two
species the cap is whitish, the gills at first violet in color, changing
to dark cinnamon brown. In H. appendiculatum the pileus is rugose when
dry, and sprinkled with atoms. It is darker in color than that of H.
incertum; Cooke says tawny or pale ochre; Massee says bay, then tawny.
The gills are sub-adnate, in color resembling those of H. incertum; stem
slender, smooth, and white.

From the foregoing it will be seen that H. _incertum_ agrees more nearly
with H. _Candollianum_ in the color of the cap, but more nearly with H.
_appendiculatum_ in the color of the gills. Saccardo recognizes the
three as "distinct species of the _genus Hypholoma_." As all are edible,
the slight differences observed are interesting chiefly to the
mycologist. The mycophagist will find them equally valuable from a
gastronomic point of view. In taste they resemble the common mushroom.
They are more fragile, however, and require less co