(natural size). Copyright.]

What appears to be the same plant was collected by me at Blowing Rock,
N. C., under a pine tree, in September, 1899 (No. 3979 C. U. herbarium).

The notes taken on the fresh plant are as follows:

Very viscid, with a thick, tough viscid cuticle, cortina or veil viscid,
and collapsing on the stem, forming coarse, walnut-brown or dark
vinaceous reticulations, terminating abruptly near the gills, or
reaching them.

The =stem= is white underneath the slimy veil covering, tough, fibrous,
continuous, and not separable from the hymenophore, tapering below.

The =pileus= is convex, the very thin margin somewhat incurved, disk
expanded, uneven, near the center cracked into numerous small viscid
brownish areoles; pileus flesh color, flesh same color except toward the
gills. Gills dark drab gray, arcuate, distant, decurrent, many of them
forked, separating easily from the hymenophore, peeling off in broad
sheets, and leaving behind corresponding elevations of the hymenophore
which extended between the laminae of the lamellae. Pileus 7 cm. in
diameter; stem 4--5 cm. long by 2 cm. diameter.

In drying, the entire plant as well as the gluten becomes black, on the
pileus a shining black.

The =spores= are rusty to dark brown, or nearly black, fusoid or oblong,
and measure 15--22 x 5--6 mu.

[Illustration: FIGURE 51.--Gomphidius nigricans. Under view with portion
of gills stripped off from hymenophore, showing forked character of
gills (natural size). Copyright.]

In Fig. 50 a side and under view of the plant are given, and in Fig. 51
a view after a portion of the lamellae have been peeled off, showing how
nicely the separation takes place, as well as showing the forked
character of the lamellae and the processes of the pileus, which extend
between the laminae of the lamellae.

This plant seems to be very near _Gomphidius glutinosus_ (Schaeff.),
Fr., if not identical with it, though the illustrations cited in
Schaeffer and in Krombholz seem to indicate a stouter plant. The
descriptions say nothing as to the appearance of the dried plant.

CHAPTER VI.

THE WHITE-SPORED AGARICS.

The spores are white in mass, or sometimes with a faint yellowish or
lilac tinge. For analytical keys to the genera see Chapter XXIV.

AMANITA Pers.

The genus _Amanita_ has both a volva and a veil; the spores are white,
and the stem is easily separable from the cap. In the young stage the
volva forms a