myces_ Pk., occurs in borders of woods or under trees
from June to September. According to Peck it occurs in borders of
hemlock woods, or under hemlock trees. At Ithaca it is not always
associated with hemlock trees. The largest specimens found here were in
the border of mixed woods where hemlock was a constituent. It has been
found near and under white pine trees in lawns, around the Norway spruce
and under the Norway spruce. The plants are from 5--15 cm. high, the cap
from 5--12 cm. in diameter, and the stem 6--8 mm. in thickness.

The =pileus= when young is broadly ovate, then becomes convex or fully
expanded and flat in age, and is quite thin. The ground color is
whitish, often with a yellowish tinge, while the surface is ornamented
with numerous minute brownish scales which are scattered over a large
part of the cap, but crowded or conjoined at the center into a large
circular patch. This gives to the plant with its shapely form a
beautiful appearance. In the young stage the entire surface of the
pileus is quite evenly brown. As it expands the outer brown portion is
torn asunder into numerous scales because the surface threads composing
this brown layer cease to grow. These scales are farther apart toward
the margin of the cap, because this portion of the cap always expands
more than the center, in all mushrooms. The =gills= are at first white,
or very soon pink in color, and in age are blackish brown. Spores 5--8 x
3--4 mu.

The =stem= is nearly cylindrical, hollow or stuffed, white or whitish,
smooth, bulbous, and the bulb is sometimes tinged with yellow. The
=veil= is very handsome, and the way in which the annulus is formed from
it is very interesting. The veil is quite broad, and it is double, that
is, it consists of two layers which are loosely joined by threads. In
the young stage the veil lies between the gills and the lower two-thirds
of the stem. As the pileus expands the lower (outer part) layer of the
veil is torn, often in quite regular radiating portions, as shown in
Fig. 22. An interesting condition of the veil is shown in the middle
plant in Fig. 23. Here the outer or lower layer of the veil did not
split radially, but remained as a tube surrounding the stem, while the
two layers were separated, the inner one being still stretched over the
gills. It is customary to speak of the lower part of the veil as the
outer part when the cap is expanded and the veil is still stretched
across over the gills,