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 × 6 µ. 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 laminæ 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; lamellæ 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 µ long, 6--7 µ 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 lamellæ 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 (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.