
39 
and even with the aid of figures it is not always easy to be sure of your 
plant. We have all of us had for years the wrong plant in view with 
regard to certain species ; and it is only by such meetings as these that 
we get our errors corrected. Often, too, we have mistaken some rare 
species for a common one, and have had to climb down pretty con- 
siderably. “Che common species are the most dificult to recognize ; 
they are more prone to vary, and many of them devoid of marked 
characters. 
In Dr. Cooke’s “Illustrations of British Fungi” more than 1,000 
species of Agarics are figured. Noone who has had to do with the re- 
cognition of such anumber of species can expect not to make someslips 
—it is impossible with such speciesas these Agarics not to fall into some 
errors. Those who have had to do with the publication of coloured 
figures know what a knack the figures have of not coming out the 
same colour as the copy. Hence, I venture to think that, if I can 
succeed in pointing out a few of the errors in these magnificent 
series of figures of Dr. Cooke’s I shall be doing a service to those 
who have occasion to make use of them. Let me not be misunder- 
stood, these criticisms are not offered in any captious spirit, nor in 
any way to disparage the laborious undertaking of the author but 
rather to increase the value of the work by correcting such errors 
as it lies in my power to do. 
Let us begin with the Amanitae. 
Amanita pantherina D. C. There are two distinct fungi 
confounded under this name. They are neither of them very 
common in this country. One of them is figured by Paulet t. 162, 
f. 2, and doubtless figures 1 and 3 on the same plate are also intended 
for it. It is a more slender plant than the other, having a dark 
brown or umber brown pellicle which has but little tendency to 
become pale, with small persistent white warts. 
The other species is figured by Krombholz t. 29, f. 10 to 13, 
Schaeffer t. go and Paulet t. 161. This isa much stouter fungus with 
a thicker stem, and: not so distinctly white warts which are usually 
larger. The pellicle is paler but more umber than brown and 
decolourizes rapidly with age. The character common to both and 
to which Fries attached so much importance is the adnate ocreate 
volva with an obtuse edge. In our early days many of us fell into 
the error of expecting an ocreate volva to show signs of an ochre 
colour just as roseate implies a rose colour. I need hardly tell you 
that ocreate is a botanical term implying that the volva embraces 
the stem asa stocking does the leg. In Cooke’s “ Handbook of 
