May 1904] 
Variability of Dictyophora 
107 
outside conditions in which the plant is found, may modify the 
dimensions of the veil, there is no doubt that the actual amount 
of material which enters into it is as variable as any other feature 
of the plant. 
The structure of the veil also varies extremely. In some 
cases it is a delicate pseudoparenchymatous membrane perforated 
with many rounded holes, in others it is a net composed of heavy 
bands and with large angular openings. In some cases the veil 
was found to be separated from its attachment to the stipe and 
was borne in the mouth of the ruptured volva. This may have 
been due to weakness in the attachment, the latter being so slight 
as to be insufficient to hold the weight of the veil, or the material 
of the volva may have been pressed so closely to the base of the 
stipe that the margin of the veil was held fast when the stipe 
elongated. Probably both factors contributed to bringing about 
this condition. 
Beside the true reticulate pseudoparenchymatous veil I found, 
on many specimens, also a membranous hyphal veil. This veil 
hung between the true veil and the stipe. In the egg this struct¬ 
ure is attached to the stipe just below the attachment of the retic¬ 
ulate veil. From this region it extends downward and is at¬ 
tached to the basal end of the stipe. When the stipe expands this 
veil is often torn loose from its attachment beneath the pileus in 
which case it appears as a lining of the volva. Very often, how¬ 
ever, the break occurs somewhere between the upper attachment 
and the base of the stipe. In the latter case the upper part ap¬ 
pears as a delicate membranous veil hanging beneath the true 
veil. If such a specimen is gathered before the true veil has 
expanded, or in cases where the true veil has been torn 
away the plant might readily be mistaken for a form allied 
to D. Ravenelii described by Burt. 1 Many specimens were pre¬ 
served in which the true veil had only partly expanded and these 
show both veils very plainly. I find no reference to this inner 
membraneous veil in the literature, but it is certainly a conspic¬ 
uous feature in very many of the specimens collected in this 
region. 
In numbers 4, 7, 8, 11, 14, and 18 we have examples of very 
long veiled types. These vary in height from 11.7 to. 19 cm. 
The tallest, in size and general proprotions, resembles the figure 
of Rail’s P. togatus. From this the other specimens mentioned 
make a complete series from the tall to the very short stocky type. 
In No. 18 we have a short stout plant, in dimensions very much 
like P. collaris Cragin except that the veil is not torn from its at¬ 
tachment. One specimen, not mentioned in the table, is pre¬ 
served and many others were found that did have the veil in the 
mouth of the volva. The one preserved is of much the same 
1 Loc. cit. 
