11 



times figured in European works. In the brown variety the stem and 

 ring are often tinged with brown, as also the volva. The cap is usually 

 from 2 to 8 inches broad, and the stem from 8 to 5 inches long. The 

 whole plant is symmetrical in shape and clean looking, though somewhat 

 clammy to the touch when moist. It is very common in mixed woods, 

 in some localities, and is universally considered as fatally poisonous. 



The white form of A. p/ialloides, although in reality bearing very little 

 resemblance to the common field mushroom, has been mistaken for it as 

 also for the Smooth xohite lepiota^ and in some instances has been eaten 

 with fatal results by those who gathered it. 



The distinction between this most poisonous Amanita and the common 

 field mushroom is well marked. In the common mushroom the fjllU are 

 pink, bceoitniig dark, hnnv)!, the spores puvplish brown, and the whole 

 mushroom is stout and short stemmed, the stem being shorter than the 

 diameter of the cap, and having no volva, or wrapper at its base. In the 

 species A. ])halloides the gills are 2^&'>'sistentl'i/ white and the bulb is dis- 

 tinct and broad at the base, the white cup-shaped wrapper sheathing the 

 base of the stem like the calyx of a flower. The Smooth white lejnota 

 shows neither volva nor trace of one, and has other distinct characteristics 

 which distinguish it from A. phalloides. See page 14, No. 4 of this series. 



The si^ecimen figured in Plate XV grew in Maryland, w^here it is (^uite 

 common. 



Plate XV. 



Fig. 9.— Ag. (Amanita) mappa (Amanita mappa) Linn.. Amanita citrina. A. 



virosa. 



Poisonous. 



Cap at first convex, then expanded, dry, without a separable cuticle, not 

 warty but showing white, yellowish, or brownish scales or patches on its 

 upper surface ; gills white, adnexed ; flesh white, sometimes slightly yel- 

 lowish under the skin ; stem stufted, then hollow, cylindrical, yellowish 

 white, nearly smooth, with a distinctly bulbous base : volva white or 

 brownish. Odor pleasant. Spores spheroidal. The cap in this species 

 is somewhat variable in color, but those having a white cap are most com- 

 mon. The plant is not so tall as those of the species p>halloides. It is 

 solitary in habit, and is found usually in open woods. 



Curtis and Lowerby figure mappa and phalloides under the same name. 



Plate XVI. 



Figs. 1 to 4. — Ag. (Amanita) vernus Bull. (Amanita verna) Linn., Amanita 

 bulbosa, Ag. solitarius. " Vernal Mushroom,^' " ISpriny Mushroom," etc. 



Poisonous. 



Cap at first ovate, then expanded, becoming at length slightly dej^ressed, 

 viscid, white ; margin smooth ; flesh white ; gills white, free ; stem white. 



