State Museum of Natural History. 39 



frequently discovered, and some mode of relief in this respect is ex- 

 ceedingly desirable. 



| [The species of Amanita grow on the ground in the woods, groves 

 and copses. They rarely occur in open fields, unless in the vicinity of 

 trees or near the margin of woods. Thin, open woods and copses af- 

 ford the most favorable localities. In the early condition the plant is 

 wholly enveloped in its volva, but as it increases in size the volva is 

 necessarily ruptured. In some species, A. coesareus, for example, the 

 volva is distinctly membranous, and includes the young plant as if in 

 an oval sack. At length the upper part of the volva is ruptured, and 

 the pi lens and stem are exserted. Sometimes one or more irregular 

 and unequal fragments of the ruptured volva adhere to the surface of 

 the pileus for a time, and are carried np by it in its growth. But 

 usually in these species the surface of the pileus is smooth, and there- 

 mains of the ruptured volva wholly adhere to the base of the stem or 

 its bulb like a membranous margin, a sheath or a lacerated cup. In 

 other species the volva is not distinctly membranous, but is more floc- 

 cose or scaly and friable in its character. It envelops the young 

 plant, but the distinction between the pileus and bulbous base of the 

 stem is soon manifest, and as the stem elongates the upper part of the 

 volva is separated from the lower part, and persistently adheres to the 

 surface of the pileus. As this expands its covering or calyptra breaks 

 up into superficial scales or warts. These are often angular or pyra- 

 midal in form, and sometimes unlike the pileus in color, and afford a 

 beautiful ornamentation. The part that remains at the base of the 

 stem often breaks up into mealy or floccose scales, and sometimes 

 wholly disappears when, the plant matures. Generally a smooth pileus 

 indicates a perfect membranous volva, and a warty one an imperfect, 

 floccose or evanescent one. Sometimes, especially after heavy rains, 

 specimens, which normally have the pileus warty, are found with a 

 smooth pileus; but these are only occasional, and probably mostly ac- 

 cidental cases, the warts having been washed off by the rain. Most 

 of the species are solitary or gregarious and of moderate or large 

 size. The pileus, when fully expanded, is nearly plane and quite regu- 

 lar, so that these Agarics are among the most noble and attractive in 

 their appearance. Many of them have a thin pellicle or cuticle, which, 

 in the young and moist plant, is slightly viscid. 



The lamellae in nearly all the species are white or whitish, and free 

 from the stem. Usually they are narrowed toward the stem, and 

 cease just before reaching it, thus leaving a small free space around its 

 apex. In many species the short ones that intervene between the long 

 ones are abruptly terminated at their inner extremity, as if truncated 

 or cut square off. The stem is usually rather long and well formed, 

 and in most species is more or less thickened or bulbous at the base. 

 In some species it is hollow or stuffed with cottony fibrils; in others 

 it is solid. In the greater number of species it is furnished with a 

 membranous ring or annulus, that surrounds it near the top like a 

 flabby collar. In the young plant this is stretched from the stem to 

 the margin of the pileus, and wholly conceals the lamellae. As the 

 pileus expands the annulus breaks loose from its attachment to the 

 margin, and remains adhering to the stem. In some species this 

 rupture is not always clean and even, small portions remaining at- 



