THE DEADLY A^IANITA 47 



as the true fungus, the final mushroom being the 

 fruit, whose function is the dissemination of the 

 spores. After a rain, or when the conditions are 

 otherwise suitable, a certain point among this webby 

 tangle beneath the ground becomes 



Vegetation suddenly quickened into astonishing 

 of an Agaric cell-making energy, and a small round- 

 ed nodule begins to form, which con- 

 tinues to develop with great rapidity (Plate 2). In a 

 few hours more it has pushed its head above ground, 

 and now appears like an egg, as at A, Plate 3. The 

 successive stages in its development are clearly in- 

 dicated in the drawings. Each represents an interval 

 of an hour or two, or more, the most suggestive and 

 important feature being the outer envelope, or volva, 

 which encloses the actual mushroom — at first com- 

 pletely, then in a ruptured condition, until in the ma- 

 ture growth the only vestige of it which appears 

 above ground are the few shreds generally, though 

 not always, to be seen on the top of the cap. The 

 most important character of this deadly Amanita is, 

 therefore, apparently with almost artful 



The danger malice prepense, often concealed from 



signal our view in the mature specimen, the 



only remnant of the original outer sack 



being the cup or socket about the base of the stem, 



which is generally hidden under ground, and usually 



there remains after we pluck the specimen. 



This " poison-cup " may be taken as the cautionary 

 symbol of thS^'genus Amanita, common to all the spe- 

 cies. Any mushroom or toadstool, therefore, whose 

 stem is thus set in a socket, or which has any suggestion 



