NATURAL HISTORY SURVEY 23 



FAM. V. CLAVARIACEAE. 



Plants fleshy, branched or simple; branches 



typically terete, not splitting Clavaria. 



Plants cartilaginous-gelatinous, horny when 



dry, simple or branched Calocera. 



FAM. VI. TREMELLACEAE. 



Plants spathulate or club-shaped, cartilagin- 

 ous-gelatinous Guepinia. 



Plants cupular, truncate or effused, often 

 papillose Exidia. 



Plants pulvinate or effused-cerebriform or 



mesenteriform Tremella. 



AMANITA. 



Plants with a volva and annulus; hymenophore distinct from 

 the fleshy stem; lamellae free, adnexed, with a decurrent tooth, 

 or slightly striate-decurrent. All growing on the ground. Spores 

 white. 



KEY TO CHICAGO SPECIES. 



Plant not changing color where wounded 1 



Plant changing color where wounded 6 



1. Volva splitting irregularly, border free. .A. phalloides. 



2. Volva circumscissile, breaking up into 



scales or rings 3 



3. Spores ellipsoidal, pileus 5 to 10 cm. 



broad. .. . . A. muscaria. 



Spores globose, pileus 2.5 to 5 cm. broad. A. Frostiana. 



4. Volva circumscissile, border nearly entire 5 



5. Base of stem not bulbous A. pantherina. 



Base of stem abruptly bulbous A. abrupta. 



6. Volva wholly friable, often disappearing. . A . rubescens. 



Amanita phalloides Fr. 



Pileus fleshy, ovate-campanulate then expanded, obtuse, 

 covered with a pellicle which is viscid in wet weather, naked or 

 with a few fragments of the volva upon its surface, margin even. 



Lamellae free, ventricose, white. 



Stem bulbous, stuffed then somewhat hollow, smooth, white 

 or pallid; ring superior, reflexed, white; volva splitting irregularly 

 at the apex, the border lax. Spores globose, 7 to 9 i*.. 



Pileus 7.5 to 10 cm. broad, color white, grayish, olive or umber; 

 stem 7.5 to 12.5 cm. high, 1 cm. or more thick. 



Solitary. In woods throughout our district. Frequent from 

 July to September. Very poisonous. Several cases of fatal 

 poisoning have occurred near Chicago through mistaking it for 

 some edible species. Popularly known as the " Deadly Amanita." 

 (For a good account of the nature and treatment of Amanita 

 poisoning, see Carter, in Mcllvane, Am. Fung. Ed. 2, p. 621. 

 For excellent figures of this and related species, see Atkinson, 

 Studies of American Fungi, p. 52.) 



