VO LV/E. 
The tribe “Volvae” is characterised by the young plant being enclosed in a 
thick membrane, called a volva. (See Fig. 1.) This is the theoretical character, 
practically, it is of little service, as most species pass this stage of their life 
beneath the ground, and the volva is ruptured before it peeps up out of the 
earth.*' Yet after a little observa¬ 
tion, you will recognize a specimen 
belonging to this tri be, by the remains 
of the volva which you see. If you 
find an agaric with slightly attached 
scales (or warts as they are generally 
called) on the pileus, (see note, 0 ) or 
if you find a cnp at the base of the 
stipe, (as fig. 2, p. 3,) or if you find 
scales at the base of the stipe (as 
fig. 5, p. 5) or scars where the scales 
have fallen off, (as fig. 6, p. 6,) your 
plant most probably belongs to this 
tribe. 
Yet, there are many agarics! that 
have volvas+ more or less pronounced 
and we must have some other way 
to limit the tribe. 
In the first place, the tribe Yol- 
vse belongs to the old genus Agari- 
cus, as limited by Fries, viz:—The 
plants are soft and fleshy, they do 
not revive when dried—they are not 
tough, persistent or coriaceous. The 
gills are entire, thin, sharp—and not 
deliquescent when old. From the 
other tribes of the old genus Agari- 
cus, the following is the technical 
distinction. 
Hymenophore distinct from the 
( stipe, and universal veil discrete from 
the epidermis of the pileus. 0 Fig. J. —Section of a young Amanita in the volva. 
*The books on edible mushrooms will tell you with great gravity, to .always avoid 
eating a species where you find the young enclosed in a shell like an egg. It is good advice—but 
they are usually young phalloids which no one need be guarded against eating when mature. 
If you find an agaric in the egg shape, it is most probably Amanita caesarea, (an edible species, 
but my advice is don't eat any Amanitas, and you will make no mistake,) or Volvaria bombycina. 
Other species usually break their volvas before they appear out of the ground. 
fTlie name agarics is a general term which Ave would apply to all fungi bearing 
gills, the genus Agaricus of the old botanists, and not restricted as limited by Fi ies. 
tCoprinus picaceus has a volva as evident as any Amanita. It breaks into scales on the pileus 
the same as an Amanita. Most Coprinii indeed have remnants of a volva, the micaceous parti¬ 
cles on the pileus of the common species micaceus, the hairy covering of fimentarius, the scurfy 
particles which we see on the pileus of most other species are in the nature of a rudimen¬ 
tary volva. Likewise the dense coat of gluten covering young Lepiota oblita, Pk., the white 
granules of Lepiota cristatella Peck, the thick gluten ol many Hygrophorii and Cortinarii are 
morphologically volva?, though rudimentary. On the other hand some species of Amanita as 
lenticularis and granulosa, the volva? are no more evident than in the cases cited above. 
°These two terms will not convey much meaning to the beginner. The first means that the 
substances of the pileus and stipe are different, that they are not homogenous—hence the stipe 
is easily separable from the pileus, that it can be easily pulled out. It is also the case that the 
gills are free, that they are not attached to the stipe, though a few plants that have pileus and 
stipe homogenous have free gills. The second term means that the scales of the pileus are not a 
part of the epidermis. The beginner finding a white spored specimen with scales, may be puz¬ 
zled to know whether it is an Amanita or a Lepiota. The scales, or warts may be easilv dif¬ 
ferentiated. In Amanita they adhere (generally loosely) to the pileus, they can be pulled off’ 
without breaking the skin. In Lepiota they are the loose edges where the epidermis is torn, they 
are similar to the fragments of skin around the edges of one’s finger nails known as hang nails. 
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