nt, edge of volva not free, frequently obliterated.

Rather common where there is much pine woods. August to October.

This species differs from A. porphyria in ring not being brown or
brownish.

_Amanita virosa. Fr._

THE POISONOUS AMANITA.

Virosa, full of poison. The pileus is from four to five inches broad;
the entire plant white, conical, then expanded; viscid when moist;
margin often somewhat lobed, even.

The gills are free, crowded.

The stem is frequently six inches long, stuffed, round, with a bulbous
base, attenuated upward, squamulose, ring near apex, volva large, lax.

The spores are subglobose, 8-10u. This is probably simply a form of A.
phalloides. It is found in damp woods. August to October.

_Amanita muscaria. Linn._

THE FLY AMANITA. POISONOUS.

[Illustration: Figure 13.--Amanita muscaria.--_Linn._ Cap reddish or
orange, showing scales on the cap and at base of stem.]

Muscaria, from musca, a fly. The fly Amanita is a very conspicuous and
handsome plant. It is so called because infusions of it are used to kill
flies. I have frequently seen dead flies on the fully developed caps,
where they had sipped of the dew upon the cap, and, like the
Lotos-eaters of old, had forgotten to move away. It is a very abundant
plant in the woods of Columbiana county, this state. It is also found
frequently in many localities about Chillicothe. It is often a very
handsome and attractive plant, because of the bright colors of the cap
in contrast with the white stem and gills, as well as the white scales
on the surface of the cap. These scales seem to behave somewhat
differently from those of other species of Amanita. Instead of
shrivelling, curling, and falling off they are inclined to adhere firmly
to the smooth skin of the pileus, turning brownish, and in the maturely
expanded plant appear like scattered drops of mud which have dried upon
the pileus, as you will observe in Figure 13.

The pileus is three to five inches broad, globose at first, then
dumb-bell in shape, convex, then expanded, nearly flat in age; margin in
matured plants slightly striate; the surface of the cap is covered with
white floccose scales, fragments of the volva, these scales being easily
removed so that old plants are frequently comparatively smooth. The
color of the young plant is normally red, then orange to pale yellow;
late in the season, or in old plants, it fades to almost white. The
flesh is white, sometimes stained ye