CLASSIFICATION 67 



cap or pileus, where by the gradual expansion of the cap it is broken 

 up into irregular patches, which in most cases remain throughout 

 the life of the fungus ; in other instances they gradually disappear, 

 being washed off by rain, etc. After the universal veil has been 

 ruptured and the cap has commenced to expand, the secondary 

 \'eil may be seen as a firm, felted or interwoven membrane, stretched 

 between the upper part of the stem and the edge or margin of the 

 cap. This secondary veil serves to protect the gills until the spores 

 are formed, when by the gradual growth and straightening out of 

 the edge of the cap, it breaks away from the edge of the cap and 

 remains as a ring or collar round the stem. After these phases 

 of development have passed, the cap expands to its full size, the 

 stem attains its full length, the spores mature and are dispersed, 

 and the entire fungus rapidly decays. 



So much for the structure of typical species, but when the student 

 begins to examine fungi in the field, he will be confronted with what 

 the beginner considers, and with a very great amount of truth, 

 serious difficulties ; he will encounter species wliich a more ad- 

 vanced student will explain to him as departures from the orthodox 

 type species, and yet belonging to the genus Amanita. For example, 

 he will encounter species where the large, well-developed volva 

 present in such a species as Amanita phalloides is reduced to an 

 apology for a volva, and represented by mere loose patches of 

 membrane svirrounding the thickened base of the stem, as in the 

 Fly Agaric [Amanita muscaria). Again, the ring on the stem, which 

 is so very consjncuous in the fully developed stage in the Fly Agaric 

 and in Amanita pJialloides, is in many species reduced to mere 

 shreds in the adult stage of many species, or it may entirely dis- 

 appear with age, although quite obvious in the young condition of 

 the fungus ; hence it is necessary to examine a fungus in various 

 stages of development, and not only when it is quite mature, to 

 arrive at its affinities. The gills are quite free in typical species, 

 but in others are adnexed or adnate. 



The question that naturally suggests itself after reading the 

 foregoing, is. How am I to know in reality to what genus a par- 

 ticular fungus does belong, that is said to be " off type " ? At the 

 commencement of the study, such species cannot be located, and 

 at this point the assistance of a more experienced person is in- 

 valuable. With a httle experience, the student that cannot deter- 

 mine the exact genus to which a fungus belongs will at all events 

 be able to recognize the two or three genera to which it could 

 possibly belong, and by gradually excluding those possessing least 

 points in common, and by a process of analogy, or comparison with 

 other known species, will arrive at the correct genus. 



The genus Amanita is remarkable for including closely allied 

 species which are respectively one of the best of our edible species 

 [A. rubescens), and certainly our most poisonous species {A. phal- 



