te 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 x 8--10 mu.
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, a