ent. Habitat terrestrial, mostly found on rich
soil or in grassy places. (In Saccardo's _Sylloge_, Lepiota is given
generic rank.)

The Lepiotas have a wide geographical distribution. No less than 225
species have been recorded as found in different parts of the world.
These are pretty evenly divided between the torrid and temperate zones.
They are generally smaller than the Amanitas, less fleshy and somewhat
dry and tough. The flesh is soft and thready, not brittle. In the plants
of most of the species the cap is rough, the cuticle being broken up
into tufts or scales. These tufts are readily distinguished from the
warts which characterize certain species of Amanita, being formed from
the breaking up of the cuticle with the concrete veil, while the
wart-like excrescences seen upon Amanita _muscaria_, for example, are
composed of fragments of the volva, which is always found enclosing the
very young plants of the genus Amanita.

A few of the species are characterized by a smooth cap; in some
instances it is granulose or mealy. Usually the cuticle is dry, but in a
few of the species it is viscid. The stem is generally long and hollow,
and, being of different texture from the flesh of the cap, is easily
separated from it, often leaving a distinct socket at the junction of
stem and cap. It is sometimes smooth, sometimes floccose. In some
species it is bulbous at the base, in others not. The ring which
encircles the stem is at first continuous with the cuticle of the cap,
breaking apart with its expansion. It is sometimes movable, sometimes
evanescent.

The species generally are considered edible, or innoxious. None are
recorded as dangerous. A mycophagist from Augusta, Ga., reports,
however, that the members of a family in that vicinity were made quite
ill from eating the Lepiota _Morgani_, a greenish-spored species of
Lepiota, while he himself ate of the same dish, experiencing no
unpleasant effects. I have had no personal experience with this species.

Two edible species of Lepiota, which are widely commended as of good
quality, and which are sufficiently abundant to have value as esculents,
are figured in Plate XI. A third, Ag. (Lepiota) cepaestipes, var.
cretaceus--Lepiota _cretacea_, figured in Plate XI-1/2, is an exotic
species found in greenhouses. It is of very delicate flavor.

[Illustration: Plate XI.
EDIBLE
Figs. 1 to 4 Agaricus (Lepiota) procerus, Fries (Lepiota procera)
"_Parasol Mus