Friesia IV, 3

176 -
ident ica l with a spe cies found in Oregon, which differed so much
from P. placom yc es that he believed it to be a new species.
Though S m i t h would indentify P. placomyces with P . meleaqris,
the present writer thinks it best to defer this till both have been
more closely examined. If t hey should then prove to be so close to
each other that it would be advisable to unit e them t he name P .
meleagris should, as the youngest, give place to t he American name
of 1878, and in that case the present dark-squamose varieties of
P . meleagris and P. xanthoderma ean with good reason be subordinated
to P. placomuces , so that their names will be: P . placomyces
v. obscuraia, P. placomyces v. grisea etc.
IV. THE MACROSPORA GROUP
Large species. Pileus white or yellow, often densely floccosesquamose.
Gills as a rule narrow, flesh colour. Gill edge sterile, pale.
Stem stout, frequently rooting and densely floccose-squamose. Ring
sheathed above , areolate-squamose on the underside. Flesh thick,
whitish, turning red in the stem when broken. Smell more or less
of almonds, often at length disagreeable. Marginal cystidia roundish
to clavate. Spores ovally ovate, large. S c h li f f e r r e a c t i o n
positive or capricious. In meadows, more rarely in woods.
KEY TO SPECIES
Pileus at first on a light ground with numerous small, adpressed,
ochre yellow, fibrillose scales. Stem short. Smells
strongly of almonds. In fairy rings in meadows .
1. 1. P . straminea
2.
Pileus at first concolorous, at first white or alutaceous,
floccose-squamose all over. Faint smell of almonds, In meadows
or in woods 2
Stem tall. Pileus and stem pure white. Habit much like
P. tuunista, but the scales of the cap and stem white. In
woods, particularly under Picea 2. P. ex eellens
Stem short. Pileus whitish or yellowish, often quite ochre
yellow in dry weather, but then very much cracked and
split. In fairy rings in meadows 3. P. macrospora