VOLVARIA. 293 



Usually solitary, but sometimes truly caespitose, when 

 young, enclosed in an ovate volva, entirely white. (Fries.) 



Sometimes very large, a specimen found on an elm trunk 

 in Kew Gardens having the following dimensions : pileus 

 14 in. across when expanded ; stem 8 in. long by 2 in. thick ; 

 gills 1| in. broad ; weight 2\ Ibs : spores normal size. 



Pileus 2 in. or more broad, at first entirely enclosed in a 

 slimy dark volva, at length protuded, campanulate, dirty- 

 white, silky with yellowish-white narrow silky scales, and 

 marked frequently with a few dark blotches, the remains of 

 the volva; flesh whitish, firm, elastic, margin involute. Gills 

 numerous, close, ventricose, quite free, not reaching to the 

 margin, at first white then rose-coloured with a tinge of 

 yellow, at length deliquescent, tinged with umber. Spores 

 elliptic. Stem 2| in. high, | in. thick in the centre, 

 firm, solid, thickest downwards, the tough volva remaining 

 like a cup at the base. The above description is taken from 

 a young specimen. When at full maturity the white of 

 the pileus is purer, and the pileus itself is more expanded. 

 (Berk.) 



Volvaria volvacea. Bull. (fig. 9, p. 236.) 



Pileus 2-3 in. across, flesh white, thick at the disc, very 

 thin elsewhere, soft, campanulate then expanded, obtuse, 

 greyish-yellow, virgate or streaked with adpressed blackish 

 fibrils ; gills free, about 2 lines broad, pale flesh-colour ; 

 stem 2-1 in. long, about 4 lines thick, almost equal, white, 

 solid, volva large, loose, whitish; spores smooth, elliptical, 

 6-8 x 3 -5-4 /A; no cystidia. 



Agaricus (Volvaria) volvaceus, Cke., Hdbk., p. 113; Cke., 

 Illustr., pi. 294. 



Agaricus volvaceus, Bull., Champ., t. 262. 



On the ground by roadsides, &c., also in stoves. 



Allied to V. bombycina, but constantly different in the less 

 ample and less persistent, brownish volva ; pileus 3 in. across, 

 rarely more, grey, elegantly virgate with blackish fibrils; 

 flesh-colour of the gills not so pure. (Fries.) 



Volvaria Loveiana. Berk. 



Pileus 2-3^ in. across, flesh rather thick but becoming 

 very thin towards the margin, globose then convex, obtuse, 

 white, silky ; gills free, about 2 lines broad, pinkish salmon- 



