ex to expanded, sometimes the center elevated,
fleshy, rather thin, tough, smooth, buff color, or tawny or reddish, in
age, or in drying, paler. When moist the pileus may be striate on the
margin. The =gills= are broad, free or adnexed, rounded near the stem,
white or dull yellowish. The =spores= are elliptical, 7--8 mu long. The
=stem= is tough, solid, whitish.

This widely distributed fungus is much prized everywhere by those who
know it. It is not the only fungus which appears in rings, so that this
habit is not peculiar to this plant. Several different kinds are known
to appear in rings at times. The appearance of the fungus in rings is
due to the mode of growth of the mycelium or spawn in the soil.

Having started at a given spot the mycelium consumes the food material
in the soil suitable for it, and the plants for the first year appear in
a group. In the center of this spot the mycelium, having consumed all
the available food, probably dies after producing the crop of
mushrooms. But around the edge of the spot the mycelium or spawn still
exists, and at the beginning of the next season it starts into growth
and feeds on the available food in a zone surrounding the spot where it
grew the previous year. This second year, then, the plants appear in a
small ring. So in succeeding years it advances outward, the ring each
year becoming larger. Where the plants appear only in the arc of a
circle, something has happened to check or destroy the mycelium in the
remaining arc of the circle.

It has been noted by several observers that the grass in the ring
occupied by the mushrooms is often greener than that adjoining. This is
perhaps due to some stimulus exerted by the mycelium of the fungus on
the grass, or possibly the mycelium may in some way make certain foods
available for the grass which gives an additional supply to it at this
point.

Fig. 129 is from plants (No. 5503, C. U. herbarium) collected in a lawn,
October 25, 1900, Ithaca.

Illustrations of some fine large rings formed by this fungus appeared in
circular No. 13 by Mr. Coville, of the Division of Botany in the U. S.
Dept. Agr.

=Marasmius cohaerens= (Fr.) Bres. (_Mycena cohaerens_ Fr. _Collybia
lachnophylla_ Berk. _Collybia spinulifera_ Pk.)--This plant grows in
dense clusters, ten to twenty individuals with their stems closely
joined below and fastened together by the abundant growth of threads
from the lower ends. From this character the name _cohae