Gregarious, somewhat cespitose. _Taste very stinging._ The stem is not strigosely sheathed at the base. _Fries._ In mixed woods. Frequent. June to September. A curious form occurred with the pileus turning very dark when full-grown. _B. and Br._ POISONOUS. Worthington Smith has tested it by accident. It produced headache, swimming of brain, burning in throat and stomach, followed by severe purging and vomiting. _Stevenson._ Gregarious or cespitose. Taste very pungent, a feature which separates the present from M. oreades. Not coarsely tomentose at the base, as in M. peronatus, but only downy. _Massee._ =Spores= 3×4µ _W.G.S._; elliptical, 8×4µ _Massee_. Pennsylvania, New Jersey, West Virginia. _McIlvaine._ I have not known it to disagree with myself or friends. That it may not agree with some persons is unquestioned. Collectors should carefully test it upon themselves. =M. perona´tus= Fr.—_pero_, a kind of boot. =Pileus= 1–2 in. and more broad, light yellowish or pallid brick-red, then becoming pale, _wood-color_ or tan, at first fleshy-pliant, then _coriaceo-membranaceous_, convex then plane, obtuse, flaccid, slightly wrinkled, even at the disk, _at length pitted, striate at the margin_. =Flesh= white. =Stem= 2–3 in. long, 1–2 lines thick, stuffed, fibrous, tough, attenuated upward, _at length hollow_ and compressed, _furnished with a bark_, light yellow then pallid, _cuticle villous_ but separating and reddish when rubbed, somewhat incurved at the base, where it is _clothed with dense, somewhat strigose_, yellowish or white _villous down_. =Gills= _adnexed, then separating_, free, moderately _thin_, and _crowded_, when young whitish, _pallid wood-color_, at length somewhat remote, reddish. _B._ Woolly sheathed at the base. Taste acrid like that of M. urens, odor none. _Fries._ In woods. Common. _Stevenson._ =Spores= pip-shaped, 7×4µ _W.G.S._; 10×6–7µ _Massee_. New York. Thin woods. North Elba. August. September. _Peck_, 42d Rep.; West Virginia, June to December, West Philadelphia and Mt. Gretna, Chester county, Pa. _McIlvaine._ M. peronatus is the wood-cousin of M. oreades. It is still reputed poisonous by all writers upon the subject, though M.C. Cooke gives it the benefit of a doubt. The name is given because of the base of the stem being densely covered with short hairs or a woolly down, and is thus easily recognized. It is common in woods, among decaying leaves, especially of the oak, from May until after frosts. It is usually solitary, but a few individuals are sometimes clustered. It is quite peppery to the taste, but pleasantly so. I have repeatedly eaten it, as have my friends. It loses its acridity in cooking, and though the caps are tougher than M. oreades, they make a highly flavored and delicious dish. Collectors should carefully test it for themselves. ** _Stem naked at the base, etc._