d occurs on the ground in woods or open places during
summer and autumn. It is a beautiful species and very fragile. The
plants are 5--10 cm. high, the cap 5--10 cm. broad, and the stem 1--2
cm. in thickness. The =pileus= is oval to bell-shaped when young,
becoming plane, and in age depressed. It is smooth, shining, the margin
furrowed and tuberculate. The color is from pink or rosy when young to
dark red when older, and fading to tawny or sometimes yellowish in age.
The cuticle is easily separable as in _R. fragilis_, the flesh white,
but reddish just beneath the cuticle. The =gills= are nearly free,
broad, not crowded, white. The stem is stout, spongy within, white or
reddish, fragile when old.

The plant is very acrid to the taste and is said to be poisonous, and to
act as an emetic.

=Russula adusta= (Pers.) Fr.--This plant occurs on the ground in woods
during late summer and in autumn. It is 3--6 cm. high, the cap 5--15 cm.
broad, and the stem is 1--1.5 cm. in thickness.

The =pileus= is fleshy, firm, convex, depressed at the center, and when
old more or less funnel-shaped from the upturning of the margin, which
is at first incurved and smooth. It varies from white to gray and smoky
color. The =gills= are adnate, or decurrent, thin, crowded, of unequal
lengths, white, then becoming dark. The =stem= is colored like the
pileus. The entire plant becomes darker in drying, sometimes almost
black. It is near _Russula nigricans_, but is smaller, and does not have
a red juice as _R. nigricans_ has.

CANTHARELLUS Adanson.

From the other white-spored agarics of a fleshy consistency
_Cantharellus_ is distinguished by the form of the gills. The gills are
generally forked, once or several times, in a dichotomous manner, though
sometimes irregularly. They are blunt on the edge, not acute as in most
of the other genera. The gills are usually narrow and in many species
look like veins, folds, or wrinkles, but in some species, as in
_Cantharellus aurantiacus_, they are rather thin and broad.

[Illustration: FIGURE 126.--Cantharellus cibarius. Under view showing
forked gills with veins connecting them. Entire plant rich chrome yellow
(natural size).]

=Cantharellus cibarius= Fr. =Edible.=--This plant is known as the
_chanterelle_. It has a very wide distribution and has long been
regarded as one of the best of the edible mushrooms. Many of the writers
on fungi speak of it in terms of high praise. The entire plant is a
un