6 RhodOfa [January 



if they are not too young. Amanitopsis and Volvaria, then, differ 

 from Amanita in baving no partial veil, and from each other in color 

 of gills and spores. As in Amanita, the gills in Volvaria are usually 

 free, and the stem is easily separable from the cap. 



Neither in number of species nor in frequency of occurrence does 

 Volvaria equal Amanita. Hennings, in Engler and Prantl (Die 

 Natiirlichen I'rlanzenfamilien, 1898) gives the number of described 

 species as follows: — Amanita, 56; Amanitopsis, 28; Volvaria, 36. 

 And Lloyd (Volvae of the United States, 1898) mentions, as ascribed 

 to this country, of Amanita, 28 species; of Amanitopsis, 10; and 

 of Volvaria, 1 2. 



With other pink-spored Agarics, the genus Volvaria has been 

 traditionally regarded by mycophagists with suspicion. Recent 

 writers, on the contrary, have placed several species in the list of 

 edible kinds. But opportunities for experiment are so infrequent, 

 or so local, that most mycophagists will probably remain doubters, 

 and prefer to err on the safe side. 



Besides the species observed by Mr. Silsbee, two others may be 

 mentioned. 'The first is perhaps as beautiful and striking an agaric 

 as the woods produce. Volvaria bombycina, a species reported from 

 Europe, Asia, North Africa, and North and South America, is the 

 most widely known. It is found on fallen and on living trees, of 

 various species, often in New England on the sugar maple. Though 

 widely distributed, it is nowhere common. It is pure white, covered 

 on the cap with glistening, silk-like fibrils (whence the name) , grows 

 to be several inches across, and is sure to attract attention by its 

 size, habitat, and large, baggy volva. On wilting or on being bruised, 

 the pure white becomes stained with dingy brown. Though this 

 Volvaria is well known to be edible, Cooke (British Edible Fungi, 

 189 1, p. 228) says, perhaps over cautiously, it " is of ten eaten abroad, 

 but we have never been induced to try it. Pink-spored species are, 

 as a rule, suspicious." Though the writer has had repeated oppor- 

 tunities of seeing this species, he has found it only once or twice. 

 It is brought as a great prize nearly every year, in July or August, to 

 some Saturday exhibition of the Boston Mycological Club. And for 

 the last two years a single superb specimen has been brought into 

 Alstead, New Hampshire, to the School of Natural History, from a 

 sugar grove in a neighboring town. 



A second large species, V. speciosa, known in Europe, America, 



