160 BEPOBT OF THE STATE BOTANIST. 



The gills are white or whitish and are gradually more narrow 

 toward the stem. The stem is often smooth but generally it is 

 sprinkled with minute mealy or branny particles or floccose scales, 

 especially in young and vigorous specimens and in the dark- 

 colored forms. It is either hollow or stuffed with a cottony ]nth. 

 It is not bulbous, but it is sheathed at the base with a soft, flabby, 

 torn membrane, the remains of the wrapper. This adheres so 

 slightly to the stem that if the plant is carelessly pulled the sheath 

 is left in the ground. 



The cap is two to four inches broad ; the stem, three to five 

 inches long and one-fourth to one-half an inch thick. 



The plant grows singly or scattered in woods or in open places. 

 It is common in the deep damp vegetable mold of dense evergreen 

 woods in mountainous regions, but is not limited to such localities. 

 It is found in almost all parts of the State and on a great variety 

 of soil. It sometimes grows on much decayed wood. It occurs 

 from June to October. 



In the white variety, A^ariety alha, the whole plant is white. 

 This is A. nivalis (Grev.) and A.fimgites (Batsch.). 



In Variety yw^ya, A.fulva (Schjeff) figures 1 to 4, the tawny 

 variety, the cap is tawny-yellow or pale ochraceous. 



In the livid variety. Variety livida, the cap has a livid or 

 leaden-brown color and the gills and stem are more or less tinged 

 with a smoky-brown hue. This is A. livida and A. spadicea 

 (Pers.). See figures 5 to 9. 



Some of the older authors placed the sheathed mushroom among 

 the doubtful or suspected species, but more reoent writers gener- 

 ally admit that it is edible. My own experience indicates that it is 

 scarcely first class, though some pronounce it "delicate," "delici- 

 ous," etc. 



Lepiota Fr. 



The species of Lepiota have the gills typicall}' free from the 

 stem, as in Amanita and Amanitopsis, but they differ in having 

 no superficial or removable warts on the cap, and no sheathing or 

 scaly remains of a wrapper at the base of the stem. In some 

 species the epidermis of the cap breaks into scales which persist- 

 ently adhere to the cap, and this feature, indeed, suggests the 

 name of the genus, which is derived from the Latin word lepis, 

 a scale. 



