THE WHITE-SPORED AGARICS 



37 



Amanita cothumata. Atkinson. 



The Bootkd Amanita. 



Cothurnata means buskined ; from corthunns, a high shoe or buskin worn by 

 actors. This species is easily separated from the other Amanitas. I shall give 

 Prof. Atkinson's description of it in full : "The pileus is fleshy and passes from 

 nearly globose to hemispherical, convex, expanded, and when specimens are very 

 old sometimes the margin is elevated. It is usually white, though specimens are 

 found with a tinge of citron yellow in the center or of tawny yellow in the center 

 of other specimens. The pileus is viscid, strongly so when moist. It is finely 



Figure 26. Amanita cothurnata. Slightly reduced from natural size, showing different 



stages of development. 



striate on the margin, and covered with numerous, white, floccose scales from the 

 upper half of the volva, forming more or less dense patches, which may wash off 

 in heavy rains. 4 



The gills are rounded next the stem, and quite remote from it. The edge of 

 the gills is often eroded or frazzly from the torn-out threads with which they 

 were loosely connected to the upper side of the veil in the young or button stage. 

 The spores are globose or nearly so, with a large "nucleus" nearly filling the spore. 



The stem is cylindrical, even, and expanded below into quite a large oval 



