82 STUDIES OF AMERICAN FUNGI. 



often preserves the uniform reddish brown color because the pileus 

 at this point does not expand so much and therefore the surface does 

 not crack, while the margin often becomes white because of the dis- 

 appearance of the brown covering here. The gills are free from the 

 stem, narrow, crowded, and close to the stem. The spores are more 

 or less angular, elongated, more narrowed at one end, and measure 

 5-8 X 3-4 //. The stem is slender, cylindrical, hollow, whitish, 

 smooth. The ring is small, white, and easily breaks up and disappears. 



The characters of the plant are well shown in Fig. 83 from plants 

 collected at Ithaca. Lepiota angustana Britz. is identical, and accord- 

 ing to Morgan L. miamensis Morgan is a white form of L. angustana. 



Lepiota asperula Atkinson. This lepiota resembles A. asper'm some 

 respects, but it is smaller and the spores are much smaller, being very 

 minute. The plant is 5-8 cm. high, the pileus 2-4 cm. broad, and the 

 stem 4-6 mm. in thickness. It grows in leaf mould in the woods 

 and has been found at Ithaca, N. Y., twice during July and Septem- 

 ber, 1897. 



The pileus is convex and bell-shaped, becoming nearly or quite 

 expanded. It is hair brown to olive brown in color. The surface is 

 dry, made up of interwoven threads, and is adorned with numerous 

 small, erect, pointed scales resembling in this respect A. asper Fr. 

 The gills are white or yellowish, free, but rather close to the stem, 

 narrow, often eroded on the edge, sometimes forked near the stem, 

 and some of them arranged in pairs. The spores are oblong, smooth, 

 and very minute, measuring 5x2//. The stem is the same color as 

 the pileus, cylindrical, hollow, with loose threads in the cavity, en- 

 larged into a rounded bulb below, minutely downy to pubescent. 

 The outer portion of the bulb is formed of intricately interwoven 

 threads, among which are entangled soil and humus particles. The 

 veil is white, silky, hairy, separating from the stem like a dense cor- 

 tina, the threads stretched both above and below as shown in Fig. 

 84 from plants (No. 3157 C. U. herbarium), collected at Ithaca. 



In some specimens, as the pileus expands, the spaces between 

 the pointed scales are torn, thus forming quite coarse scales which 

 are often arranged in more or less concentric rows, showing the 

 yellow-tinged flesh in the cracks, and the coarse scales bearing the 

 fine point at the center. A layer connecting the margin of the pileus 

 with the base of the stem and covered with fine brown points, some- 

 times separates from the edge of the cap and the base of the stem, 

 and clings partly to the cortina and partly to the stem in much the 

 same way that portions of the volva cling to the stem of certain 

 species of Amanita, as seen in A. velatipes (Fig. 66). Sometimes 



