State Museum of Natural History. 49 



form a sort of ring around the base of the stem, but which oftener 

 remain as scales or disappear entirely. The warts of the pileus are 

 often very numerous, persistent and close, especially on the disk, but 

 sometimes they nearly all disappear, leaving the resemblance to A. 

 vaginatus very close. They are dingy-gray or mouse-colored. The 

 stem usually tapers upward and is adorned with minute branny scales 

 or with a sort of mealiness, especially on the upper part. This species 

 was described by Berkeley and Broome under the name A. Cecilim, 

 but Fries considers it the same as his A. strangulatus. Our plant has 

 globose spores, while the spores of A. Ceciliae are described in the 

 Handbook of British Fungi as "oval, .00034 by .0006 in., " a dis- 

 crepancy which I am unable to explain. Neither is the application of 

 the specific name strangulatus clear. 



Agaricus f&rinosus, Schiv. Mealy Agaric. Pileus nearly plane, thin, 

 fiocculent-pulverulent, ividely and deeply striate on the margin, gayish- 

 brown or livid-brown ; lamellse free, whitish; stem whitish or pallid, 

 equal, stuffed or hollow, mealy, subbuTbous, the volva fiocculent- 

 pulverulent, evanescent; spores variable, elliptical ovate or subglobose, 

 .00025 in. to .0003 in. long. 



Plant about 2 in. high, pileus 1 in. to 15 lines broad, stem 1 line 

 to 3 lines thick. July to September. 



This is our smallest Amanita. It is neither very common nor very 

 abundant when it does occur. The pileus is generally grayish-brown 

 or mouse-colored, though specimens sometimes occur that are almost 

 white. The striations of the margin are long and generally distinct. 

 The dusty flocculent covering is grayish-brown and usully most dense 

 on or near the center of the pileus. It is this that suggests the specific 

 name and affords a good distinguishing character for the species, which 

 might otherwise be easily mistaken for a diminutive form of A. 

 vaginatus. The lamellae are sometimes uneven or floccose on the edge, 

 which gives them a serrated appearance. Toward the outer extremity 

 they are somewhat venosely connected in the interspaces as in A. 

 russuloides. The stem is whitish and more or less mealy, with a slight 

 bulb at the base which is at first clothed like the pileus. It is described 

 by Schweinitz as "solid," but I have always found it stuffed or hollow. 



Two other species of Amanita have been published by E. G. Howe, 

 M. D., of Yonkers, under the names A. onustus and A. soleatus. No 

 locality is added to the descriptions, but they are presumably of this 

 State. I have seen no specimens of these species, but the description 

 of the latter indicates that it is the same as A. volvatus. I have there- 

 fore deemed it best to omit them, until we have more definite informa- 

 tion concerning them. 



In the preceding pages, when no name is added to the station or 

 stations mentioned, the plant has been found therein by the writer. 

 Dates signify the time when the specimens were collected, and there- 

 fore indicate, to some extent, the time of the occurrence of the plant. 

 Grateful acknowledgments are rendered to those Botanists whose 

 names appear in the preceding pages,and who have kindly aided me by 

 contribution of notes and specimens. 



Very respectfully submitted, 



CHARLES H. PECK. 



Albany, January 7, 1880. 



fAssem. Doc. No. 127.] 7 



