19—VOLVARIA UMBONATA. 
Pileus white, campanulate, at length plane, when moist 
slightly viscid, but silky and not viscid when dry, strongly 
striate to the umbo, furnished with a decided prominent umbo. 
Gills free, remote from the stipe. Stipe solid , smooth, white, 
slightly thickened below, (flesh white.) Volva white, irregul¬ 
arly split into segments. Spores varying in size, 5-7 me. 
broadly elliptical or globose. 
The plant usually grows in lawns. We have met it two seasons. Stipe 5 6 
cm. high, 4 mm. thick. Pileus 3 cm. broad. It is about the same size as parvula 
and we were inclined to refer it to that species, especially as Frips underscores 
umbonate as a character. But it seems clearly distinct in its solid stem. Prof. 
Peck to whom we sent photograph, notes and dried specimens, considers it unde¬ 
scribed and we adopt the name he suggests for it. 
20—A STANDARD OF COLORS. 
There has recently been issued a little book that will 
find frequent use by every student in natural history, namely, 
the Prang’s Standard of Colors, published by Louis Prang, 
Boston, Mass. We advise every one who is engaged in the 
study of the lungi to send 50 cts., to the publishers for this 
work. It contains plates showing 1176 distinct shades of color, 
arranged in a scientific series by a color expert, and on scien¬ 
tific principles. It is almost impossible to find a color in na¬ 
ture that cannot be very closely matched in the work. 
We admit that there is no other one single subject that 
has caused us so much trouble in the study of mycology as 
the determination of colors. Not that we are color blind, 
but that we do not know the colors. In fact, there is no sub¬ 
ject on which we feel there is so much general lack of knowledge 
as that of colors. If you do not believe it, take an agaric to 
three or four people, ask them what color it is, and you will 
find that hardly two of them will give it the same name. The 
general terms such as red, brown, etc., used in describing 
agarics do not convey any distinct idea. 
We can now cite colors with the knowledge that we can 
convey the same to anyone else who is studying the subject 
by citing them according to the system in this Standard of 
Colors. It would seem to us that Prang could have adopted 
a better system of nomenclature, giving a distinct name to 
each shade of color illustrated, which name would convey an 
impression of the color better than the present citation. For 
instance “20Y03” is simply a formula conveying an accurate 
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