nd thus more or
less shelving, or it is resupinate, that is, lying flat or nearly so on
the wood. The species are usually of small size, thin, soft and fleshy.
The spores are reddish brown (ferruginous). The genus corresponds to
_Pleurotus_ among the white-spored agarics, or to _Claudopus_ among the
rosy-spored ones. Peck describes eleven species in the 39th Report, N.
Y. State Mus., p. 69 et seq., 1886.

=Crepidotus versutus= Pk.--This little _Crepidotus_ has a pure white
pileus which is covered with a soft, whitish down. The plants grow
usually on the underside of rotten wood or bark, and then the upper side
of the cap lies against the wood, and is said to be resupinate.
Sometimes where they grow toward the side of the log the cap has a
tendency to be shelving. In the resupinate forms the cap is attached
usually near one side, and then is produced more at the opposite side,
so that it is more or less lateral or eccentric. As the plant becomes
mature the edge is free from the wood for some distance, only being
attached over a small area. The cap is somewhat reniform, thin, and from
6--12 cm. in diameter. The =gills= radiate from the point where the cap
is attached to the substratum, are not crowded, rounded behind, that is,
at the lateral part of the cap where they converge. They are whitish,
then ferruginous from the spores. The =spores= are sub-elliptical,
sometimes inequilateral, and measure from 8--12 x 4--6 mu.

[Illustration: FIGURE 154.--Crepidotus versutus. Cap white, downy; gills
whitish, then rusty (twice natural size) Copyright.]

=Crepidotus herbarum= Pk., is a closely related species, separated on
account of the smaller spores. Both species grow either on herbs or
decaying wood. As suggested by Peck they are both closely related to _C.
chimonophilus_ Berk., which has "oblong elliptical" spores. The shape of
the spores does not seem to differ from the specimens which I have taken
to be _C. versutus_.

=Crepidotus applanatus= Fr., is a larger species, shelving and often
imbricated. =Crepidotus fulvotomentosus= Pk., is a pretty species with a
tomentose cap and tawny scales, usually occurring singly. It is closely
related to _C. calolepis_ Fr.

Figure 154 is from plants of _Crepidotus versutus_ Pk., (No. 2732 C. U.
herbarium) collected on rotting wood at Freeville, N. Y., eight miles
from Ithaca. The plants are represented twice natural size.

CORTINARIUS Fr.

The genus _Cortinarius_ is chiefly dist