BLACK-SPORED AGARICS. 47 



prominent and stout when the plant is young, and extends from the 

 margin of the pileus to the stem when the plant is very young and 

 the stem has not elongated. As the stipe elongates the veil sepa- 

 rates from the stipe as a ring, and then, as the pileus expands, it is 

 broken quite regularly into short segments which become arranged 

 regularly around the margin of the pileus in the form of the letter V, 

 which gives a beautiful appearance to this stage of the plant. It is 

 only when the plants are fresh and moist that this condition of the 



Figure 48. Panaeolus retirugis, showing cracked surface of cap in the left- 

 hand plant, also in same plant the ring mark of black spores which lodged 

 before veil ruptured ; in other plants showing well the V-shaped loops of veil 

 on margin of cap (natural size). Copyright. 



veil can be seen, for on drying the veil collapses. Water is some- 

 times caught under the veil before the pileus separates far from the 

 stem, and the spores falling thus float against the stem at this point 

 and make a dark ring around the stem, which, however, should not 

 be mistaken for the annulus. In no case was the veil observed to 

 cling to the stem, and many plants have been observed to see if 

 this variation might present itself. 



This peculiarity of the veil in clinging to the margin of the pileus 



