I 



13 



Geo. Massee. A 3£on<>(jra]>h of the Myxoi/aster.s. Col. platwK. Koy. 

 8vo. London, 18i)2. 

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AGARICINI. 



Subgenus Lepiota Fries. Veil universal and concrete, with the cuticle 

 of the pileus breaking up in the form of scales. Gills typically free, often 

 remote, not sinuate or decurrent. Stem generally distinct from the 

 hymenophore. Volva absent. Habitat terrestrial, mostly found on rich 

 soil or in grassy places. (In Saccardo's Sylloge, Lepiota is given generic 

 rank.) 



The Lepiotas have a wide geographical distribution. No less than 225 

 species have been recorded as found in different parts of the world. 

 These are pretty evenly divided between the torrid and temperate zones. 

 They are generally smaller than the Amanitas, less fleshy and somewhat 

 dry and tough. The flesh is soft and thready, not brittle. In the plants 

 of most of the species the cap is rough, the cuticle being broken uj3 into 

 tufts or scales. These tufts are readily distinguished from the warts 

 which characterize certain species of Amanita, being formed from the 

 breaking up of the cuticle with the concrete veil, while the wart-like ex- 

 crescences seen upon Amanita muscaria, for example, are composed of 

 fragments of the volva, w^hich is always found enclosing the very young 

 plants of the genus Amanita. 



A few of the species are characterized by a smooth cap ; in some in- 

 stances it is granulose or mealy. Usually the cuticle is dry, but in a few 

 of the species it is viscid. The stem is generally long and hollow, and, 

 being of different texture from the flesh of the cap, is easily separated 

 from it, often leaving a distinct socket at the junction of stem and cap. 

 It is sometimes smooth, sometimes floccose. In some species it is bulb- 

 ous at the base, in others not. The ring which encircles the stem is at 

 first continuous with the cuticle of the cap, breaking apart with its ex- 

 pansion. It is sometimes movable, sometimes evanescent. 



The species generally are considered edible, or innoxious. None are 

 recorded as dangerous. A mj^cophagist from Augusta, Ga., reports, 



