**** _Gills decurrent. Stem lateral, etc._ =P. ostrea´tus= Jacq.—_ostrea_, an oyster. (Plate XXXV, p. 134, XXXV_a_, p. 142.) =Pileus= 3–5 in. broad, when young almost becoming black, _soon becoming pale_, brownish-ash color, passing into yellow when old, fleshy, _soft, shell-shaped_, somewhat dimidiate, _ascending_, smooth, moist, even, but sometimes with the cuticle torn into squamules. =Stem= shortened or obliterated, firm, elastic, ascending obliquely, _thickening upward_, white, strigoso-villous at the base. =Gills= _decurrent, anastomosing behind, somewhat distant_, broad, white, sometimes turning light yellow, _and without glandules_. For the most part cespitose, imbricated, very variable, sometimes almost central. The pileus is at first convex and horizontal, then expanded and ascending. _Stevenson._ =Spores= 10–12×4–5µ _Massee_; 7.5–10×4µ _Peck_. General over the United States. Var. _glandulo´sus_ Ag. g. Bull.—With the habit of the typical form, but larger. Pileus dark brown, becoming pale. Gills white, with scattered small wart-like or glandular bodies. On trunks. A very constant but somewhat rare variety; easily known by the dark-brown pileus. The gland-like bodies on the gills are due to the outward growth of the hyphæ of the trama in minute patches here and there. _Massee._ Var. _euos´mus_ Berk.—strong-smelling. Strong scented, imbricate. Pileus fleshy, depressed, shining, silky when dry, at first white with a tinge of blue, then brownish. Stem short or obsolete. Gills decurrent, ventricose, dingy, white. =Spores= 12–14×5µ, pale pinkish-lilac. On elm trunks. Pilei very much crowded, 2 in. or more across, deeply depressed, unequal, at first white, invested with a slight blue varnish, at length of a pale brown. Stems distinct above, connate below. Gills rather broad; running down to the bottom of the free portion of the stem. Spores oblong, narrow, oblique, white, tinged with purple. The whole plant smells, when first gathered, strongly of tarragon. _B. and Br._ Found at Richmond, Ind., _Dr. J.R. Weist_. On hickory stump at Mt. Gretna, Pa., _McIlvaine_; Haddonfield, N.J., _T.J. Collins_. This esculent fungus closely allied to P. ostreatus, and differing only in having lilac spores, has been followed from book to book by a bad reputation, probably because of its “rosy” or lilac spores—all fungi having pink spores having been, until recently, ignorantly branded by authors as poisonous. The writer has eaten meals of it many times, as have his friends. It is in every way equal to P. ostreatus. The rare qualities of this species are stated in the descriptive heading of the genus. Its very name implies excellence. The camel is gratefully called the ship of the desert; the oyster mushroom is the shellfish of the forest. When the tender parts are dipped in egg, rolled in bread crumbs, and fried as an oyster they are not excelled by any vegetable, and are worthy of place in the daintiest menu.