Leucospors3 



(Plate II.) 



soft, loose, white or yellowish floccose scales or filaments. Spores Lepiota. 

 oblong or subfusiform, 12 2O/* long, 6 8//. broad. 



The cap of the shield lepiota is at first somewhat ovate or bell-shaped, 

 but with advancing age it becomes 

 convex above or nearly flat. It is 

 white or whitish, but spotted with 

 numerous small scales of a yellowish 

 or brownish-yellow color. These 

 scales are the result of the breaking 

 up of the thin cuticle that covers the 

 very young plant, and they have the 

 same color as it. A small space in 

 the center is brown or yellowish- 

 brown, or darker than the rest of the 

 cap, because the cuticle covering it 

 remains unbroken and retains its 



color. The center in some speci- 



LEPIOTA CLYPEOLARIA PK. 

 mens is more prominent than in oth- About one . halfnat . size . After Peck _ 



ers, giving what is called an umbon- 



ate cap. The margin of the cap is sometimes shaggy, specially in 



young plants, by the adhering fragments of the whitish veil. 



The gills are thin, closely placed side by side and rounded at the 

 end next the stem, but they are not attached to the stem. They are 

 white. The stem is rather long and slender, fragile and adorned with 

 loose, soft fibrils or flocculent, cottony tufts, which give it a somewhat 

 shaggy appearance, but it becomes smoother as the plant grows older. 



The cap is usually from 1-2.5 inches broad, and the stem from 1.5-3 

 inches long and 1.53 lines thick. The plants grow in woods, specially 

 in hilly and mountainous regions, and are generally solitary or few in a 

 place, but in favorable seasons they are of frequent occurrence and may 

 be found from July to October. Though small and thin, the caps are 

 well flavored and make a desirable dish. L. metulaespora B. and Br. 

 scarcely differs from this species, except in the striate margin of its cap. 

 Peck, 54th Rep. N. Y. State Bot. 



Lepiota naucinoides Pk. (See page '45.) This valuable food 

 species is spreading and rapidly increasing in many of the states. Prof. 



713 



