Genus Lepiota 337 



L. 7neleagris, the specific name of which was applied by Sowcrby, 

 ought to be known in England, if anywhere. Rea's account (13) 

 of the plant therefore deserves attention. It appears to be rela- 

 tively a much smaller plant than any of the others; the scales 

 on the cap are minute and black, and the annulus is "very fuga- 

 cious." It has no relationship to such species as L. brunnescens 

 Pk. or Psalliota echinata Fr. 



Lepiota acutaesquamosa, L. aspera, L. Friesii and L. his- 

 piDA. — Wliat one is to believe among the conflicting opinions 

 concerning the identity of these four species, is difficult to de- 

 cide. Fries gives his mature opinion in Hymen. Europ., 1874, 

 where he recognizes the specific distinction of L. acutaesquamosa 

 Weinm., L. hispida Lasch and L. Friesii Lasch. In a note under 

 Amanita aspera, he refers to the Persoon species "Agaricus as- 

 per" as one involved in confusion. In Monographia, Vol. I 

 (1857), p. 23, he says L. Friesii has not yet been collected in 

 Sweden. Quelet and Battaille (12), on the other hand, recognize 

 Lepiota aspera of Persoon, and practically make L. acutaesqua- 

 mosa Weinm.-Fr. a synonym of it. They also recognize L. his- 

 pida Lasch, but do not mention L. Friesii. According to their 

 descriptions, L. aspera has forked gills, while the gills of L. his- 

 pida are simple. Gillet, in Champignons de France, 1874, in- 

 cludes L. acutaesquamosa Weinm. and L. hispida Lasch and 

 assigns to them simple gills, recognizing L. Friesii Lasch as a 

 species with forked gills. Ricken (14) considers L. acutaesquamosa 

 Weinm. as a synonym of L. Friesii Lasch, including only the 

 latter and L. hispida. He gently brushes away certain difficul- 

 ties by including in the description of each of these species the 

 words "bisweilen gabelig." C. G. Lloyd {I. c.) also combines 

 L. Friesii and L. acutaesquamosa by the use of the magic words: 

 "sometimes gills are not forked, sometimes few forked, and 

 often many forked." Morgan {I. c.) recognizes Persoon's name, 

 L. aspera, and reduces L. acutaesquamosa and L. Friesii to syn- 

 onomy. Morgan's method of side-stepping the gill-character in 

 question is to omit stating whether they are simple, forked or 

 either. Rea (13) italicizes the word "branched" in describing 

 the gills of L. acutaesquamosa and omits italics for it in L. Friesii. 



