9 



The Clip yt' Amuuita i/t,i/,v.(tr/(/ is very iittr:u:li\e to llicss, l)iit proves to 

 them, as also to roaches and to some other insects, u deadly poison. 



The jnice of utrobili/ormis is not poisonous to liies. This fact may aid 

 in ideutifyiuji^ the species. 



Subgenus AnitDtltop.^is lio.-c. The s})ecies of this subj^euus were for- 

 merly included in Amanita. The characteristic which separates it from 

 Amanita is the (dtseiwe <>/ a ring on the stem. The <>ills are free from the 

 stem, the spores are white, and the whole plant in youth is encased in 

 an egg-shaped volva.* 



. Amanitopsis viu/uuUa li(>^:e. Edible. 



This species is very common in pine and oak forests. The plant, as a 

 whole, has a graceful aspect and g'rows singly or scattered through open 

 places in the woods. It is somewhat fragile and easily broken. The cap 

 in this species is usually a mouse-gray, sometimes slaty gray or brownish, 

 generally umbonate in the center and distinctly striated on the margin. 



The stem is white, equal, and slender in proportion to the width of the 

 cap, and sheathed quite far up with a loose white membranous wrapper. 

 This sheath is so slightly attached to the base of the stem that it is often 

 left in the ground if the plant is carelessly pulled. The gills are white, 

 or whitish, free from the stem and rounded at the outer extremity. 



There is a white variety, (vai'iety alba) A. nivalis, in which the whole 

 plant is white, and a tawny variety (A. fulva Schaeft'.) in which the cap is 

 a pale ochraceous yellow, with the gills and stem white or whitish. In 

 the variety A. limda or A. spadicea Grev. the cap is brown, while the 

 stem and gills are tinged a smoky brown. 



These are all edible and of fairly good flavor. Except in the absence of 

 the ring upon the stem, the light varieties might be mistaken for small 

 forms of the poisonous species Amanita verna or of phalloides. Great 

 caution should therefore be observed, in gathering for the table, to be sure 

 of the species. 



Plate XV. 



Figs. 1 to 7.— Ag. (Amanita; muscarius Linn. (Amanita muscaria). " Fly Muah- 



rooui,'^ " Fahe Orange.^' 



Poisonous. 



Cap warty, margin striate ; gills white, reaching the stem, and often 

 forming decurrent lines upon it ; stem white, stuffed, annulate, bulbous at 

 the base, concentrically ridged or scaly at the base, and sometimes part 

 way up, with fragments of the ruptured wrapper. Spores widely ellipti- 

 cal, white, .0003 to .0004 of an inch in length. 



* Although this subgenus is not inchided in M. C. Cooke's analytical key to the t)rder 

 of Agaricini, published with his kind permission in No. 3 of this series, he now in- 

 cludes it as one of the subgenera which shouhl have a place in that list. 



