252 SEMI-CENTENNIAL OF TORREY BOTANICAL CLUB 
But even under these conditions there is no evidence of an ocreate 
volva. Moisture frequently holds portions of the calyptra in 
definite patches, but its texture is different from that of the volva 
in A. Frostiana. In very rare cases, when the weather conditions 
are somewhat drying, the margin of the pileus may be slightly 
striate, as sometimes occurs with thin pilei, which normally are 
notstriate. But this rarely appearing striate margin in Amanita 
flavoconia is one of the extreme limits of its range of fluctuating 
variation, not at all an indication of its specific identity with a 
normally and regularly striate species. But aside from this 
feature, the very different spores, and volva, separate flavoconia 
very clearly from Frostiana. It is more closely related to Amanita 
muscaria, or the form sometimes called formosa. 
For a number of years, before I made a critical study of 
Amanita flavoconia, I regarded the specimens of this species which 
I encountered as belonging to Amanita Frostiana. I remember 
that in 1902, when collecting and studying fungi for a week, in 
company with Dr. Peck in the vicinity of Lake Piseco, in the 
Adirondack mountains, I showed him some specimens which I 
had collected during the morning, and said: “Неге is an unde- 
scribed species of Amanita." He examined the specimens crit- 
ically for a few minutes and then said: “Yes, it is. Heretofore 
I have taken it for Amanita Frostiana." Amanita flavoconia 
appears to have a much wider distribution than Amanita Frostiana 
has. It is very common in the Adirondacks; in fact, it appears 
to be the most common species of Amanita in that region, while 
I have never found Amanita Frostiana there, though it is not 
uncommon in the Cayuga region, and probably in all of central 
and western New York. 
The range of fluctuating variation presented by some of the 
characters of these, and many other species of Amamita, is such 
that one extreme of the range in a species may now and then 
show a tendency toward the constant character of the corre- 
sponding structure in a related species. In this way the ranges 
of fluctuating variations are linked by this touch, or slight over- 
lapping, of the extremes of all the species. If this relation of the 
ranges of fluctuating variation, between the different species of 
Amanita, is interpreted as indicating specific identity, it would 
result in reducing all the Amanitas to a single species. 
