ently hanging to the margin of the cap.
By close observation one will sometimes detect a black band on the stem,
caused by the falling of the black spores, when the plant is damp,
before the pileus has separated from the stem. The spores are black and
elliptical.

I have found it a number of times on the Chillicothe high school lawn,
especially after it was fertilized in the winter. It is found mostly on
dung from June to October. I do not recommend it as a delicacy.

_Panaeolus epimyces. Pk._

[Illustration: Figure 277.--Panaeolus epimyces. Note black spores in
central foreground. Note also huge masses of abortive stuff upon which
it grows.]

Epimyces is from _epi_, upon; _myces_, a mushroom; so called because it
is parasitic on fungi. There are a number of species of mushrooms whose
habitat is on other mushrooms or fungus growths; such as Collybia
cirrhata, C. racemosa, C. tuberosa, Volvaria loveiana and the species of
Nyctalis.

The pileus is fleshy, at first subglobose, then convex, white, silky,
fibrillose, flesh white or whitish, soft.

The gills are rather broad, somewhat close, rounded behind, adnexed,
dingy-white, becoming brown or blackish, with a white edge.

The stem is short, stout, tapering upwards, strongly striate and
minutely mealy or pruinose; solid in the young plant, hollow in the
mature, but with the cavity small; hairy, or substrigose at the base.
The spores elliptical and black, .0003 to .00035 of an inch long, .0002
to .00025 broad. _Peck._

The plants are small, about two thirds to an inch broad and from an inch
to an inch and a half high. It is referred to this genus because of its
black spores. It has other characteristics which would seem to place it
better among Hypholomas. It is not common. Found in October and
November. The specimens in Figure 277 were found in Michigan and
photographed by Dr. Fisher.

_Panaeolus campanulatus. Linn._

BELL-SHAPED PANAEOLUS.

Campanulatus is from _campanula_, a little bell.

The pileus is an inch to an inch and a quarter broad, oval or
bell-shaped, sometimes slightly umbonate, smooth, somewhat shining,
grayish-brown, sometimes becoming reddish-tinted, the margin often
fringed with fragments of the veil.

The gills are attached, not broad, ascending, variegated with gray and
black.

The stem is three to five inches long, hollow, slender, firm, straight,
often covered with frost-like bloom and often striate at the top, the
veil remaini