specimens of a _Coprinus_.

The =pileus= is whitish or gray, or grayish brown, very thin, oval, then
bell-shaped, minutely scaly, becoming smooth, prominently silicate or
plicate, plaited. The =gills= are adnate, broad, white, gray, then
black. The =spores= are black, oblong, 8 x 6 mu. The =stem= is very
slender, becoming hollow, often curved. The entire plant is very
fragile, and in age becomes so soft as to suggest a _Coprinus_ in
addition to the general appearance. Figure 49 is from plants collected
on decaying logs at Ithaca.

GOMPHIDIUS Fr.

The genus _Gomphidius_ has a slimy or glutinous universal veil
enveloping the entire plant when young, and for a time is stretched over
the gills as the pileus is expanding. The gills are somewhat
mucilaginous in consistency, are distant and decurrent on the stem. The
gills are easily removed from the under surface of the pileus in some
species by peeling off in strips, showing the imprint of the gills
beneath the projecting portions of the pileus, which extended part way
between the laminae of the gills. The spores in some species are
blackish, and for this reason the genus has been placed by many with the
black-spored agarics, while its true relationship is probably with the
genus _Hygrophorus_ or _Paxillus_.

=Gomphidius nigricans= Pk.--The description given by Peck for this plant
in the 48th Report, p. 12, 1895, reads as follows:

"Pileus convex, or nearly plane, pale, brownish red, covered with a
tough gluten, which becomes black in drying, flesh firm, whitish;
lamellae distant, decurrent, some of them forked, white, becoming smoky
brown, black in the dried plant; stem subequal, longer than the diameter
of the pileus, glutinous, solid, at first whitish, especially at the
top, soon blackish by the drying of the gluten, whitish within, slightly
tinged with red toward the base; spores oblong fusoid, 15--25 mu long,
6--7 mu broad. Pileus 1--2 inches broad; stem 1.5--2.5 inches long, 2--4
lines thick."

"This species is easily known by the blackening gluten which smears both
pileus and stem, and even forms a veil by which the lamellae in the young
plant are concealed. In the dried state the whole plant is black."

"Under pine trees, Westport, September."

[Illustration: FIGURE 50.--Gomphidius nigricans. Side and under view
showing forked gills, and reticulate collapsed patches of dark slime on
stem. Cap flesh color, gills dark gray; entire plant black when dried