314 C. H. Kauffman 



or Amanitopsis. This differentiated tissue, which forms a true 

 volva, Atkinson called the teleoblema. The genus Lepiota is, 

 then, definitely and generically distinct from Amanita and 

 Amanitopsis, without reference to the other differences in de- 

 velopment. The variations in the character of the cap-covering, 

 in different species of Lepiota, is doubtless due to the amount 

 and texture of the tissue derived originally from the blematogen. 



If we turn now to the stem characters, we find that the facts 

 concerning the development of the annulus and stem-covering 

 are not as clearly worked out as those of the pileus. In sepa- 

 rating the genus into sections, the characters of the annulus and 

 stem-covering play a rather important part. These characters 

 also are generally poorly studied or recorded by those who 

 describe new species, and it is here that difficulties arise when 

 monographic arrangements of the species are attempted. Atkin- 

 son has given us a clear picture of the layers of tissue of the 

 stem-covering in Lepiota dypeolaria. Here the rather dense 

 tissue in the gill cavity — later to become the partial veil and 

 annulus — extends downward thinly to the base of the stem. 

 Enveloping this thin layer is the tissue of the universal veil, 

 which is concrete with the inner layer and which breaks up into 

 cottony scales. It may be said, in passing, that these parts can 

 be made out in the field with a good hand lens, and it is essen- 

 tial that all species collected and described should be studied in 

 this way when collected. L. dypeolaria is an example of the 

 kind of species which should go into the section Clypeolariae as 

 given below. 



Atkinson gave some attention to the details of development of 

 annulus and stem-covering in Lepiota cristata. The blematogen 

 on the stem is composed of hyphae parallel to the stem and is 

 poorly developed, i.e., there is so little of it that the thin, almost 

 unnoticeable, peronate sheath which terminates in the annulus 

 when the plant is partly grown or expanded, cannot be accounted 

 for by this layer. Atkinson pointed out, however, that the thin, 

 descending tissue connected with the tissue of the gill cavity 

 later becomes much thicker. In the section Subclypeolariae, 

 given below, there is probably this type of development through- 



