olva are caught, and remain on the surface of the
pileus. But when the volva is thinner and of a looser texture, it splits
transversely about the middle, circumscissile, and all or a large part
of the upper half of the volva then clings to the cap, and is separated
into patches. Between this and the former condition there seem to be all
gradations. Some of these are shown in Fig. 56, which is from a
photograph of dark olive and umber forms, from plants collected in the
Blue Ridge mountains, at Blowing Rock, N. C., during September, 1899. In
the very young plant the volva split transversely (in a circumscissile
fashion) quite clearly, and the free limb is quite short and distant
from the stem on the margin of the saucer-like bulb. In the large and
fully expanded plant at the center, the volva ruptured irregularly at
the apex, and portions of the thin upper half remain as patches on the
cap while the larger part remains as the free limb, attached at the
margin of the broad saucer-shaped bulb, and collapsed up against the
base of the stem.

[Illustration: FIGURE 58.--Amanita phalloides, volva circumscissile,
concave bulb margined by definite short limb of volva; upper part of
volva has disappeared from cap; cap whitish, tinged with brown.]

Figure 58 and the small plant in Fig. 56, both from photographs of the
sooty form of _Amanita phalloides_, show in a striking manner the
typical condition of the circumscissile volva margining the broad
saucer-like bulb as described for _Amanita mappa_. The color of _A.
mappa_ is usually said to be straw color, but Fries even says that the
color is as in _A. phalloides_, "now white, now green, now yellow, now
dark brown" (Epicrisis, page 6). According to this, Fig. 58 would
represent _A. mappa_.

The variable condition in this one species _A. phalloides_, now
splitting at the apex, now tearing up irregularly, now splitting in a
definitely circumscissile manner, seems to bid defiance to any attempt
to separate the species of _Amanita_ into groups based on the manner in
which the volva ruptures. While it seems to be quite fixed and
characteristic in certain species, it is so extremely variable in others
as to lead to the suspicion that it is responsible in some cases for the
multiplication and confusion of species. At the same time, the
occurrence of some of these forms at certain seasons of the year
suggests the desirability of prolonged and careful study of fresh
material, and the se