1899] Webster, — Lepiota rhacodes 225 
by the universal veil, much as in Amanita. As they increase in size 
they gradually take the form of a thick, fleshy, saucer-shaped cup, in 
which the cap first manifests itself as an umbonate swelling, from which 
the external covering soon tears away, leaving the smooth, brown, globose 
pileus exposed. In this stage, which is reached by the time that the 
fructification is above ground, the resemblance to an acorn in a thick 
white cup is striking.' Round the stem is a marked channel or depres- 
sion, but as development progresses this gradually disappears. For 
some time, however, the base retains a broad rim, but with the full up- 
ward expansion of the stem this rim is reduced and may disappear. 
For a long time the cap remains globose, swelling to great size before 
the veil, which is continuous, separates from the margin. During this 
process the smooth inelastic outer skin of the cap is stretched to the 
breaking point, and numerous horizontal and vertical cracks appear, 
especially near the margin. When the cap is fully expanded only the 
disk or central portion retains a smooth unbroken surface. Everywhere 
else are large brown scales, with the fibrous, whitish flesh showing be- 
tween. The veil tears away raggedly from the edge of the cap, and 
retains for some time its horizontal position, standing out as a stiff collar 
sometimes nearly an inch wide. Gradually it shrinks, separating at the 
circumference into two more or less well-defined layers, which curl 
away from each other slightly, with fibrous edges. Eventually, as in Z. 
procera, the ring becomes moveable. The fully expanded cap is usually 
slightly depressed at the disk. The broad gills are attached at their 
inner ends, as in Z. procera, to a conspicuous * collarium," which forms 
a Socket that receives the apex of the stem. 
Although much like Z. procera in many ways, Z. rhacodes differs in 
being shorter, broader, fleshier and heavier, and in being bigger in all 
corresponding parts. Even in the button stage Z. procera shows a ten- 
dency to lengthen out, the stem apparently leading in the process of ex. 
pansion. In consequence the globose young condition is soon changed 
for an ellipsoid form, the end of the stem, above which the flesh is com- 
paratively thin, pushing up into an umbo which remains a characteris- 
tic feature of the expanded pileus. Moreover the pileus is not so ex- 
tremely ragged as in Z. rhacodes, and the ring is comparatively much 
smaller, as is the bulbous base of the stem. In Z. procera the stem is 
1 See Plate 11. Good illustrations of the fully developed fruit are given by Cooke 
(Illustrations), Gillet (Hymenomycetes), and Richon et Roze (Atlas), as well as by 
Berkeley and Vittadini. 
