OF SOI TI1 AUSTRALIA. 
49 
diameter above the bulbous base to 24 to 3}ins, (ti.2 to 9.4 cm.) at the base, 
striate above, mealy above when young, conical downwards, solid, the colour of 
the pileus or light vinacoous cinnamon. Ring very prominent, about tin. (2.5 cm.) 
from the pileus, dependent, double, striate. Flesh thick, sometimes tinted with 
vinaceons russet. Indefinite remains of the volva, sometimes hardly recognisable, 
forming pinkish-buff scaly remnants or lines round the turbinate base of the 
stem. Smell strong'. Spores white, nearly subspherical to elliptical, 10 to 11.5 x 
9.5 «., 9.5 to 1 /j.. After heavy rain. South Australia — Greenhill Road, Mount 
Lofty, Kuitpo, Square Watcrholo, Willunga Hill, Waitpinga. Victoria — 
Specimens apparently of this species with the pileus near Apricot-Buff (xiv.), 
with the top of the stem similarly tinted, gills with a faint ochraceous tint, were 
found on Princes Highway at the Smith Australian border, near Kiora Forest 
Reserve, in March, 1931. New South Wales. March tc June. (Plate I.) 
The very large size, marked ring, strong smell, and the colour make, the 
recognition of the species easy. 
(1. Amanita grisea Mass, et' Rod way. (L. griseus, grey). — Both in South Austra- 
lia and New South Wales ill the autumn and early winter species of Amanita are 
frequently met' with which have as a common feature a more or less evident drab 
colour on the pileus. This colour may vary from only a slight greyish-brown tint 
on a whitish background, to an almost uniform dark greyish-brown colour, some- 
times almost approaching chocolate, but without a purplish cast. In addition 
there are usually present also on the pilous adherent' whitish or pallid fragments 
of the volva. The gills are cream-coloured, sometimes with a faint rosy tint. 
The ring in the adult state may be evident and ample, or indefinite and flimsy, 
or all vestiges of it may have disappeared. The volva is occasionally ample and 
rather sheathing, or may be fragmented, or may he fugacious and no longer 
recognisable. The spores are subspherical to elliptical, varying in size in dif- 
ferent' collections from 9 to 15 x 7.5 to 13 m. As in some instances a definite ring 
may be present without an obvious volva, or a volva without any sign of a ring, 
or both may be present together, technically individual specimens might be 
placed under Amanita, Amanitopsis, or even Lipwta. 'the first two of these 
genera grade into each other, and some authors unite them as one under Amanita * 
The plants we are considering have the habit of an Amanita, being stouter than 
is usual amongst the species of LepkAa. They should all be placed therefore 
under the genus Amanita. But do they all belong to one species of Amanita ? 
This point must at present remain undecided. In the same locality and on the 
same day, we may meet with specimens varying in the way indicated, though 
usually those plants growing near each other present similar features. Hitherto 
we have failed to detect any reliable criteria by which these plants can be 
sepia rated specifically from each other. We consider them, then, as belonging 
to a father variable species with a tendency to form local races. The more 
characteristic features of the species consist in the greyish -brown or drab colour 
of the pileus, the frequent but not invariable presence of patches of the volva 
on the pilous, ami the large subspherical to elliptical spores. 
W hat name should be attached to this continental species? In the Kcw 
Bulletin for 1901 (p. 156) Alassee and Rodway described Amanita grisea from 
Mount K nocklofty, Tasmania. Mr. Rodway ’s original notes from which the 
Latin description was made, are as follows:- Pileus convex, 14iu. to 2in., surface 
smooth, dull, shining, pale grey brown, cuticle distinct, margin incurved, substance 
fleshy, hygrophanous. Stem 2 A i n ., solid, denser than pileus, white. Ring very 
slight, arachnoid. Volva persistent round base. Gills bold, white, ventrieose, 
adnexed. Spores white, spherical, smooth, 10 . A specimen collected at Brown’s 
River, Tasmania, in January, 1928, in company with Mr. Rodway and referred 
by him to A. grisea, resembled forms of our continental species so closely that I 
considered it the same. The Tasmanian specimens seem to lack patches on the 
pileus and to have a definite volva. 
As indicating the varied features of the species, we give the following com- 
posite description of collections from Beaumont Common (May, July), Mvpongu 
(May), Kangarilla (October), and Mount Compass (May): — Pileus at first 
globose, 2 Jin. (5.6 cm.), then convex, Jin. to 6in. (7.5 to 15 cm.), finally nearly 
plane or even a little depressed, slightly viscid, with scattered flimsy, adpressed, 
tomentose greyish-white fragments of the universal veil, edge not striate later 
greyish and suWibrillose, shining when dry, greyish-brown to chocolate ’ (near 
Bister, xxix.). Gills just adnexed, nearly free, no decurrent tooth, Jin. to fin. 
(6 to 16 mm.) deep, slightly ventrieose, definitely cream-colored. Stem up to 
