CHARACTERS OF MUSHROOMS. 305 



they seem to be more or less spongy or tough, fibrous, so that they 

 do not snap readily. Cartilaginous stems have a consistency resem- 

 bling that of cartilage. Their texture is always different from that 

 of the pileus, which is fleshy or membranous. In general such stems 

 are rather slender, in many genera rather thin, but firm. When bent 

 sufficiently they either snap suddenly, or break like a green straw, 

 without separating. In regard to their external appearance some 

 resemble fibrous stems, while others are smooth and polished as in 

 Mycena and Omphalia. 



The veil In the young stages of development the margin of the 

 pileus lies in close contact with the stipe, the line of separation being 

 indicated by a kind of furrow which ,runs around the young button 

 mushroom. In many genera, as Colly bia, Mycena, Omphalia, etc., 

 the pileus simply expands without having its margin ever united to 

 the stipe by any special structure, but in other forms, which include 

 by far the greater number of genera of the Agaricacece and some 

 Boleti, the interval between the stem and pileus is bridged over by 

 threads growing from the margin of the pileus and from the outer 

 layers of the stem. These threads interlace to form a delicate mem- 

 brane, known as the veil, which closes the gap between the stem 

 and pileus and covers over the young hymenium. 



The veil remains firm for a time, but it is finally torn by the 

 expanding pileus, and its remnants persist on the cap and stem in the 

 form of various appendages, whose character depends on the charac- 

 ter of the veil. In Cortinarius the veil is made up of delicate threads 

 extending radially from the stem to the margin of the cap without 

 forming a true membrane. From its resemblance to a spider's web 

 such a veil is said to be arachnoid. At maturity mere traces of it 

 can be found on the stem. In many genera the veil consists of a 

 delicate membrane which tears away from the stem and hangs in 

 flakes to the margin of the pileus. \w these cases the veil is appen- 

 diculate (Fig. 248). Frequently it is so delicate that no trace of it 

 remains on the mature plant. Where the veil is well developed it 

 usually remains on the stem as a ring or annulus \s^\\\c\\ becomes free 

 and movable in species of Lepiot a (Fig. 242) and Coprinus, or forms 

 a hanging annular curtain in Amanita, or a thick, felty ring in Agar- 

 icus, etc. In some plants (species of Lepiota) the annulus is con- 

 tinuous with the outer cortex of the stem, which then appears as if 

 it were partially enclosed in a sheath, with the annulus forming a 

 fringe on the upper end of the sheath, from which the apex of the 

 stem projects. 



No reference is here made to the volva, which encloses the entire 



