WHITE-SPORED AGARICS. 



57 



entire pileus may be dark olive or umber color. The giHs in 

 all the forms are white, and free from the stem or only joined 

 by a narrow line. The stem is stuffed when young, but in age 

 is nearly or quite hollow. It is cylindrical, 6-20 cm. long x 6-12 

 mm. in thickness. In the larger specimens the bulb is quite prom- 

 inent and abrupt, 

 while in the smaller 

 specimens it is not 

 always proportionally 

 so large. The stem is 

 usually smooth and 

 the color is white, ex- 

 cept in the dark forms, 

 when it is dingy or 

 partakes more or less 

 of the color of the 

 pileus, though much 

 lighter in shade. 

 There is a tendency 

 in these forms to a 

 discoloration of the 

 stem where handled 

 or bruised, and this 

 should caution one in 

 comparing such forms 

 with the edible A. 

 ruhescens. 



Perhaps no part of 

 the plant is more vari- 

 able than the outer 

 veil or volva. Where 

 the volva is quite thick 

 and stout it usually 

 splits at the apex, and 

 there is a prominent 

 free limb, as shown in 

 Fig. 55. Sometimes thin portions of the volva are caught, and remain 

 on the surface of the pileus. But when the volva is thinner and of a 

 looser texture, it splits transversely about the middle, circumscissile, 

 and all or a large part of the upper half of the volva then clings to the 

 cap, and is separated into patches. Between this and the former 

 condition there seem to be all gradations. Some of these are shown 



Figure 57. Amanita phalloides, volva circumscissile, cap 

 scaly, limb of volva not prominent, cap dark, scales white 

 (natural size). Copyright. 



