WHITE-SPORED AGARICS. 



61 



loose threads extend from the edges of the gills to the outer layer of 

 the stem. This outer layer of the stem forms the veil, and is more 

 or less loosely connected with the firmer portion of the stem by loose 

 threads. As the pileus expands, the threads connecting the edges 

 of the gills with the veil are stronger than those which unite the veil 

 with the surface of the stem. The veil is separated from the stem 

 then, simultaneously, or nearly 

 so, throughout its entire extent, 

 and is not ripped up from below 

 as in Amanita velatipes. 



As the pileus expands, then, 

 the veil lies closely over the edges 

 of the gills until finally it is freed 

 from them and from the margin 

 of the pileus. As the veil is split 

 off from the surface of the stem, 

 the latter is torn into numerous 

 floccose scales, as shown in Fig. 



59. 



In other cases, in addition to 

 the primary veil which is sep- 

 arated from the stem in the man- 

 ner described above, there is a 

 secondary veil formed in exactly 

 the same way as that described 

 for Amanita velatipes. 



In such cases there are two 

 veils, or a double veil, each at- 

 tached to the margin of the pileus, 

 the upper one ascending over the 

 edges of the gills and attached 

 above on the stem, while the 

 lower one descends and is at- 

 tached below as it is being ripped 

 up from a second layer of the 

 stem. Figures 59-61 are from 

 plants collected at Blowing Rock, N. C, in September, 1899. 



Amanita virosa Fr. Deadly Poisonous. This plant also by some is 

 regarded as only a form of Amanita phalloides. It is a pure white 

 plant and the pileus is viscid as in the A. verna and A. phalloides. 

 The volva splits at the apex as in A. verna, but the veil is very 

 fragile and torn into shreds as the pileus expands, portions of it cling- 



FlGURE 61. Amanita verna, small form, whit( 

 (natural size). Copyright. 



