bdecurrent, crowded, watery, cinnamon color. Cap 1 to 2 inches broad.
Stem 2 to 3 inches long." In beech woods in September and October.

The genus Cortinarius has been divided by some authors into the
following six groups: (1) _Phlegmacium_, in which the cap is fleshy and
viscid, the veil partial, and the stem firm and dry; (2) _Myxacium_, in
which the veil is universal and glutinous, hence the cap and stem both
viscid; cap thin and the gills adnate or decurrent; (3) _Inoloma_, in
which the cap is fleshy, dry, and at first silky with innate fibrils;
veil simple and stem slightly bulbous; (4) Dermocybe, in which the
pileus is thinly fleshy, dry, and at first downy, becoming smooth; the
veil single and fibrillose; flesh watery, colored when moist, stem equal
or attenuated downwards; (5) Telamonia, in which the cap is moist, at
first smooth or dotted with the superficial fragments of the veil, the
stem ringed below, or peronately scaly from the remains of the universal
veil; (6) Hydrocybe, in which the cap is thin and moist, not viscid,
smooth, or covered with superficial white fibrils; stem rigid, not
scaly, veil thin, occasionally collapsed in an irregular ring. These
subdivisions have been designated as _tribes_ by some botanists and
_subgenera_ by others, etc. To the divisions Inoloma and Phlegmacium,
respectively, belong the two species illustrated in Plate XII.

[Illustration: Plate XII.
EDIBLE
Figs. 1 to 4 Cortinarius (Inoloma) violaceus, Linn.
"_Violet Cortinarius_."
Figs. 5 to 7 Cortinarius (Phlegmacium) caerulescens, Fries.
T. Taylor, del.]

PLATE XII.

FIGS. 1 to 4.--=Cortinarius (Inoloma) violaceus= Fr. "_Violet
Cortinarius_."

EDIBLE.

Cap fleshy, at first convex, then nearly plane, dotted with hairy tufts
or scales, margin at first involute, color purple or dark violet, flesh
soft, purplish; gills distant, broad, adnate, somewhat rounded near the
stem, at first purplish violet, changing to an ochraceous or brownish
cinnamon color as the plant matures; stem solid, somewhat bulbous at the
base, purple; cortina or veil white or tinged with violet, sometimes
bluish.

This is a handsome species, and though it is somewhat rare in many
localities, its pretty and unusual coloring does not allow it to be
easily overlooked. It is edible, and has a mushroomy taste when raw.
Agaricus _nudus_ Bull, a purple species with white spores, is sometimes
confounded wit