734 ADDITIONAL EXERCISES 



Universal veil absent — 



Ring present Pholiota. 



Ring absent — 

 Stem central — 



Cap turned in Naucoeia. 



Cap not turned in Galf-ea. 



Stem excentric or none Crepidotus. 



Brown-spored Agarics 



Cap easily separating from the stem, gills usually free Agamctts. 



Cap not easily separating from the stem, gills attached; 



Ring present Stropharia. 



Ring absent, veil remaining attached to the margin of the cap. . Hypholoma. 



Black-spored Agarics 



Gills deliquescing, cap thin, ring present in some species Coprincs. 



Gills not deliquescing: 



Margin of cap striate, gills not variegated Psathyrella. 



Margin of cap not striate, gills variegated Pan^olus. 



The genus Amanita is easily recognized among the white-spored agarics in typical 

 species, or early stages, by the presence of a volva and a veil. Young plants are com- 

 pletely enveloped by the volva, and the manner in which it ruptures varies according 

 to the species. The volva may persist in the form of a basal cup, as rings, or scales, 

 on a bulb-like base, or it may be friable and evanescent. The cap is fleshy, convex, 

 then expanded. The gUls are free from the stem, which is different in substance 

 from the cap and readily separable from it. 



This is a most interesting genus, on account of the great beauty of color and tex- 

 ture of many of its species and the fact that it contains the most poisonous of all 

 mushrooms. While there are some edible species in the genus, the safest policy 

 for the amateur is to avoid all mushrooms of the genus Amaniia. 



Amanita caesarea. Casar's Mushroom 



Cap ovate to hemispherical, smooth, with prominently striate margin, reddish or 

 orange becoming yellow; gills free, yellow, stem cylindric, only slightly enlarged 

 at the base, attenuated upward, flocculose, scaly below the annulus, smooth above; 

 ring membranaceous, large, attached from its upper margin; stem and ring nor- 

 mally orange or yellowish, in small or depauperate specimens sometimes white; 

 flesh white, yellow under the skin, and usually yellow next to the gills; volva large, 

 distinct, white, sac-like. 



Cap 2j^ to 4 or more inches broad; stem 3 to s inches long. 



This species is variously known as Ciesar's agaric, royal agaric, orange Amanita, 



