60 FIELD AND FOREST. 



That law of objectiveness so universally manifested in nature is plainly 

 visible in the Amanita as well as all others which come to us wrapped 

 in three membranes or mantels of protection; as in them that portion 

 of the fungus which bears the spores is formed first, usually it is formed 

 last. Hence that rough but beautiful envelop, the vulva, which claims 

 our admiration and apes the calyx of the higher phsenogamous plant. 

 It is but the guardian which presides with watchful care and nourishes 

 the infant fungus and its spores. 



The shapes of fungi are protean. We have this season collected the 

 Bussula lefiida, with a nearly square pileus, besides others equally awry ; 

 but in anatomy, they were none the less true to their classification. 



As a rule each species adheres to its special coloring, and we rarely 

 see them depart from it, save in higher or lower tints; though even 

 here there are exceptions to the rule. Colors, like conformation, 

 vary. 



The Bussula virescens, given by Mrs. Hussey in her book on Fungi, 

 is white, with the top of the pileus strongly marked with green, and 

 that color slightly distributed to the margin, which is white. We 

 have gathered this fungus during the past summer with the pileus, a 

 mottled green and ochre, shaded into an almost dirty white margin. 

 Epidermis in age, breaking up into map-like patches, which gave 

 a mouldy appearance. 



Soil and habitat have much to do with color and size. In the rich 

 primeval forests on the Eastern shore of our State, we find the Ag. 

 {Amanita,') muse ar ins, and the Ag. {Amanita) mbescens, with bright red 

 pilei, at times very large. We have gathered the same this season on 

 the Western shore, with small pilei, bordering on reddish brown, mar- 

 gin shaded into ochre. We are informed that in the State of New 

 York the Ag. muscarius occurs at times with the pileus all white, or 

 wholly yellow, also orange, or variously shaded with orange and vellow. 

 It occurs with us a bright yellow. Last summer we collected several 

 specimens of the Lactari'us tormenosus, each differing in shade. One 

 was a light brown or ochre, another of a deeper color, and a third 

 deepened into bright sienna red. So we might go on enumerating 

 the various shades, which each species assumes under change of soil 

 and habitat. Last summer we collected twenty-five specimens, which 

 accorded in every respect with Mr. Berkeley's classification. British 

 subjects growing upon Maryland soil. One specimen which we are 



