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FLY AMANITA. 



Amanita muscaria (X.) Fr. 



Other names : Fly fungus; dy agaric ; fly killer; deadly amanita ; false 

 orange amanita. (Fig. 1.) 



Description and habitat. — A handsome robust species, 4 to 16 inches 

 high. It is singularly free from larval pests and the usual signs of 

 decay, and is highly attractive in appearance, taste, and smell. In its 

 earl}- stages the shape of the cap is very strongly convex, but by grad- 



Fig. 1. — Fly amanita {Amanita muscaria): «, mature plant ; b. top view of cap showing corky patches— 



both one-half natural size 



ual expansion it becomes flat and even concave. It is invariably warty. 

 In color it varies from nearly white through all shades of yellow to a 

 bright red. As a rule it is more reddish in the center and light yellow 

 outward, but sometimes the color is uniform throughout. The enlarged 

 base is marked with short, stubby projections of the epidermis, which 

 are generally replaced upward along the lower part of the stem by 

 soft flexible shavings, as seen in the figure. The general shape of the 

 plant is very much like that of the orange Amanita {Amanita caesarea), 

 but it differs conspicuously in the absence of a cup and in the posses- 

 sion of white instead of yellow gills and stems. It differs also in usu- 



