WHITE-SPORED AGARICS. 



59 



bid defiance to any attempt to separate the species of Amanita into 

 groups based on the manner in which the volva ruptures. While it 

 seems to be quite fixed and 

 characteristic in certain species, 

 it is so extremely variable in 

 others as to lead to the suspicion 

 that it is responsible in some 

 cases for the multiplication and 

 confusion of species. At the 

 same time, the occurrence of 

 some of these forms at certain 

 seasons of the year suggests 

 the desirability of prolonged and 

 careful study of fresh material, 

 and the search for additional 

 evidence of the unity of these 

 forms, or of their definite segre- 

 gation. 



Since the Amanita phalloides 

 occurs usually in woods, or along 

 borders of woods, there is little 

 danger of confounding it with 

 edible mushrooms collected in 

 lawns distant from the woods, 

 and in open fields. However, 

 it does occur in lawns bordering 

 on woods, and in the summer of 

 1899 1 found several of the white 

 forms of this species in a lawn 

 distant from the woods. This 

 should cause beginners and 

 those not thoroughly familiar 

 with the appearance of the plant 

 to be extremely cautious against 

 eating mushrooms simply be- 

 cause they were not collected in 

 or near the woods. Further- 

 more, sometimes the white form 

 of the deadly amanita possesses 

 a faint tinge of pink in the gills, 

 which might lead the novice ^ . . , , . i n 



, . . Figure 59. Amanita verna, white (natural size). 



to mistake it for the common Copyright. 



