State Museum or NATURAL HIstTory. 39 
frequently discovered, and some mode of relief in this respect is ex- 
ceedingly desirable. 
The species of Amanita grow on the ground in the woods, groves 
and copses. ‘They rarely occur in open fields, unless in the vicinity of 
trees or near the margin of woods. Thin, open woods and copses af- 
ford the most favorable localities. In the early condition the plant is 
wholly enveloped in its volva, but as it increases in size the volva is 
necessarily ruptured. In some species, A. cwsareus, for example, the 
volva is distinctly membranous, and includes the young plant as if in 
an oval sack. At length the upper part of the volva is ruptured, and 
the pileus and stem are exserted. Sometimes one or more irregular 
and unequal fragments of the ruptured volva adhere to the surface of 
the pileus for a time, and are carried up by it in its growth. But 
usually.in these species the surface of the pileus is smooth, and the re- 
mains of the ruptured volva wholly adhere to the base of the stem or 
its bulb like a membranous margin, a sheath or a lacerated cup. In 
other species the volva is not distinctly membranous, but is more floc- 
cose or scaly and friable in its character. It envelops the young 
plant, but the distinction between the pileus and bulbous base of the 
stem is soon manifest, and as the stem elongates the upper part of the 
volva is separated from the lower part, and persistently adheres to the 
surface of the pileus. As this expands its covering or calyptra breaks 
up into superficial scales or warts. These are often angular or pyra- 
midal in form, and. sometimes unlike the pileus in color, and afford a 
beautiful ornamentation. The part that remains at the base of the 
stem often breaks up into mealy or floccose scales, and sometimes 
wholly disappears wher the plant matures. Generally a smooth pileus 
indicates a perfect mémbranoys volva, and a warty one an imperfect, 
floccose or evanescent one. Sometimes, especially after heavy rains, 
specimens, which normally have the pileus warty, are found with a 
smooth pileus; but these are only occasional, and probably mostly ac- 
cidental cases, the warts having been washed off by the rain. Most 
of the species are solitary or gregarious and of moderate or large 
size. The pileus, when fully. expanded, is nearly plane and quite regu- 
lar, so that these Agarics are among the most noble and attr active in 
their appearance. Many of them have a thin pellicle or cuticle, which, 
in the young and moist plant, is slightly viscid. 
The lamellee in nearly all the species are white or whitish, and free 
from the stem. Usually they are narrowed toward the stem, and 
cease just before reaching it, thus leaving a small free space around its 
apex. In many species the short ones that intervene between the long 
ones are abruptly terminated at their inner extremity, as if truncated 
or cut square off. The stem is usually rather long and well formed, 
and in most species is more or less thickened or bulbous at the base. 
In some species it is hollow or stuffed with cottony fibrils; in others 
itis solid. In the greater number of species it is furnished with a 
membranous ring or anvulus, that surrounds it near the top like a 
flabby’ collar. In the young plant this is stretched from the stem to 
the margin of the pileus, and wholly conceals the lamelle. As the 
pileus expands the annulus breaks loose from its attachment to the 
margin, and remains adhering to the stem. In some species this 
rupture is not ‘always clean and even, small portions remaining at- 
