74 STUDIES OF AMERICAN FUNGI. 



A. polypyramis B. & C, collected in North Carolina, is but one of the 

 variations of A. solitaria. 



Figures 75, 76 show well certain stages in the development of 

 this plant. The conical or pyramidal warts are formed in a very 

 young stage of the plant by the primary separation of the outer part 

 of the volva, and as the pileus expands more, and the cessation of 

 growth of the outer veil proceeds inward, the scales become more 

 widely separated at the apex and broader at the base. In some 

 cases the volva is probably thinner than in others, and with the 

 rapid expansion of the pileus in wet weather the scales would be 

 smaller, or more tloccose. But with different conditions, when it is 

 not so wet, the plant expands less rapidly, the surface of the pileus 

 becomes drier, the volva layer does not separate so readily and the 

 fissures between the scales proceed deeper, and sometimes probably 

 enter the surface of the pileus, so that the size of the warts is aug- 

 mented. A similar state of things sometimes takes place on the 

 base of the stem at the upper margin of the bulb, where the con- 

 centric fissures may extend to some distance in the stem, making the 

 scales here more prominent in some specimens than in others. A 

 similar variation in the character of the scales on the bulb of Amanita 

 muscaria is sometimes presented. 



The veil is often loosely attached to the edges of the gills, and so 

 is stripped off from the stem quite early. Sometimes it is more 

 strongly adherent to the stem, or portions of it may be, when it is 

 very irregularly ruptured as it is peeled off from the stem, as 

 shown in the plant near the left side in Fig. 75. The veil is very 

 fragile and often tears a little distance from the margin of the cap, 

 while the portion attached to the stem forms the annulus. This 

 condition is shown in the case of three plants in Fig. 75. The plant 

 is said to be edible. 



AMANITOPSIS Roze. 



This genus has white spores, and a volva, but the annulus and 

 inner veil are wanting, in other respects it agrees with Amanita. 

 It is considered as a subgenus of Amanita by some. 



Amanitopsis vaginata (Bull.) Roz. Edible. — The sheathed amani- 

 topsis, A. vaginata, is a quite common and widely distributed plant 

 in woods. It is well named since the prominent volva forms a large 

 sheath to the cylindrical base of the stem. The plant occurs in 

 several forms, a gray or mouse colored form, and a brownish or 

 fulvus form, and sometimes nearly white. These forms are recog- 



