I06 THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. 



It is dressed in royal scarlet or orange, and has always moved 

 in the best circles, having associated with the Roman Emperors 

 thousands of years ago. This was probably the species referred to 

 as the Boletus^ although this name is now applied to one of the 

 Polyporei. 



When the good Agrippina wished to make way with her hus- 

 band Claudius, it was this mushroom, prepared by the skillful 

 Locusta, that was given him. Nero called it the food of the gods, 

 for had not the Senate declared Claudius a god. Perhaps it was 

 on account of its relationship with the deadly Verna that this 

 species was so dear to the Roman Empress. 



The Emperor Jovian is also said, by some, to have been killed 

 by eating mushrooms; possibly he mistook a Vej-na for the Caeserea. 



Subgenus Lepiota is characterized more especially by a cuticle 

 torn into fringes, somewhat as in the Coprinus Comatus. The 

 cuticle is concrete with the substance of the pileus and is not like the 

 volva of the Amanita that leaves loose patches of skin on the upper 

 surface of the pileus. 



In the Lepiota there is no volva. The ring is generally loose 

 and slips up and down on the stem. The stem is generally bulbous 

 and has a hollow in the center stuffed with loose fibres. Spores 

 white. Stem distinct in a socket ; gills free. The type of this 

 subgenus is the Lepiota- Procera. This is, I think, one of the most 

 beautiful and graceful of all the mushrooms. It is called the um- 

 brella mushroom or parasol mushroom, and it resembles wonderfully 

 a miniature parasol covered with rows of delicate lace fringe right to 

 the top and hanging from the margin. The center is slightly raised 

 or umbonate, and dark brown with the unbroken cuticle that is torn 

 away from the pileus to make the fringes below. The stem is 

 mottled with brown, bulbous and with a large loose ring. On 

 being bruised this fungus turns from white to an orange or rust 

 color. I found a basket full at one time which were a cream white 

 when picked, but the jarring of carrying them home in the basket 

 turned them nearly all to a bright orange color. When cooked they 

 become reddish brown ; they had quite a distinct flavor, different 

 from most other mushrooms. 



Lepiota Naiicinoides is quite different from the Procera. It has 

 no scales or fringes on the pileus. A loose ring, bulbous stem, 



