146 FETCH : 



Tlio volva is about 3-5-4 era. in diameter, and is white or 

 grayish, sometimes brown or purple in the upper half : it is 

 either smooth, or clothed with small white fibrils and scales, 

 wliicli give it the appearance of Echinophallus (the lattsr is only 

 known from unexpanded examples, and is evidently closely 

 allied to Dictyophora). The mycelium is white or violet. 



The total height of the fungus is very variable. My speci- 

 mens range from 10 • 5 to 20 cms., while one of the herbarium 

 paintings (which are all ' ' life-size ") shows a specimen 31*5 cms. 

 liigh. The stalk above the volva is attenuated upwards, the 

 diameter diminishing from 2' 8-2* 2 cms. to 2-1 cms. : there is 

 a more rapid diminution of the part of the stalk within the 

 volva down to the base. The stalk is hollow ; its wall consists 

 of polygonal, isodiametric chambers, usually in three layers at 

 the base, two in the middle of the stalk, and only one towards 

 the apex. The outer walls of these eliambers are perforated 

 here and there in most cases. In one abnormal specimen the 

 stalk is conical, 16 cms. high, 2' 8 cms. diameter at the base, 

 8 mm. diameter at the apex. 



The top of the stalk is surmounted by a truncated conical 

 or conico-campanulate cap, 2*5-4 cms. high and 2*5-4 cms. 

 in diameter at the lower edge. This cap is only united to the 

 stalk at the upper edge. Underneath the cap the wall of the 

 stalk is thin and solid {i.e., without large cavities), and this 

 structure continues with a slight mcrease in thickness into 

 the cap : the arrangement is exactly that of the turned-down 

 top of a golf stocking. The presence or absence of a ring at 

 the top of the cap, which has been considered a specific 

 difference, depends merely on slight variations in the manner 

 in which the stalk wall turns over into the cap : these vari- 

 ations will be understood from the diagrams : in the most 

 general case there is no " ring," and in no case is there a 

 solid, swollen ring. The outer surface of the cap is covered 

 with a network of raised bands, which are more oi^less parallel 

 near its upper and lower edges. In general the bands are 

 narrow and deep, and project almost perpendicularly from the 

 surface : but in many cases they are rounded off on either 

 side. In the first they have the appearance of tliin bars 

 applied edgewise to the cap ; in the second case the cap 



