198 JOUKNAT. OF THE MiTCHELL SoCIETY [Mavch 



A XEW SPECIES OF AMANITA. 



By H. C. Beardslee. 



Amanita mutabilis n. sp. 



Plates 30 and 31. 



Cap 5-9 cm. broad, white or very pale cream color, not viscid, ap- 

 pearing smooth, but with flat closely appressed fragments of the volva 

 which are slightly darker than the cap ; slightly striate on the margin. 



Stem 4-8 cm. long, 1-1.5 cm. thick, white, solid, fibrillose below the 

 veil, abruptly enlarged below into a bulb 2-3 cm. thick, sheathed by 

 the volva, which separates in a circumscissile manner with a distinct 

 free margin. 



Gills rather broad, white, mealy on the margin. 



Veil thin, smooth, often breaking and forming fragments which 

 remain attached to the margin of the cap. 



Spores oblong ellipsoid, 6.5-7.5 x 11-14/a, 



Odor not at all of chlorine, but rather pleasant and oily. Flesh of 

 the stem changing to carmine (about Eugenia red of Ridgway) in 

 three minutes. 



Growing in white sand on Davis Island, ]^. C. 



The characters of this species suggest a relationship to A. pantherina 

 and A. cothurnata. ■ It has the same curious sheathed bulb at the base 

 of the stipe. In every specimen examined the volva had separated 

 at the margin of the bulb in a definite line, and the margin had rolled 

 back slightly, exactly as in A. pantheriim. The cap if not carefully 

 examined would be described as smooth. The remains of the volva 

 are, however, left on the surface of the cap, and can be distinguished 

 as slightly darker spots, and can be rolled up in rolls if the cap is 

 gently rubbed. The quick change of color when the stem is wounded 

 is different from anvthins; I have observed in Amanita. The change 



