ustration: PLATE 23, FIGURE 77.--Amanitopsis vaginata. Tawny form
(natural size). Copyright.]

The =pileus= is from ovate to bell-shaped, then convex and expanded,
smooth, rarely with fragments of the volva on the surface. The margin is
thin and marked by deep furrows and ridges, so that it is deeply
striate, or the terms sulcate or pectinate sulcate are used to express
the character of the margin. The term pectinate sulcate is employed on
account of a series of small elevations on the ridges, giving them a
pectinate, or comb-like, appearance. The color varies from gray to mouse
color, brown, or ochraceous brown. The flesh is white. The =gills= are
white or nearly so, and free. The =spores= are globose, 7--10 mu in
diameter. The =stem= is cylindrical, even, or slightly tapering upward,
hollow or stuffed, not bulbous, smooth, or with mealy particles or
prominent floccose scales. These scales are formed by the separation of
the edges of the gills from the surface of the stem, to which they are
closely applied before the pileus begins to expand. Threads of mycelium
growing from the edge of the lamellae and from the stem intermingle. When
the pileus expands these are torn asunder, or by their pull tear up the
outer surface of the stem. The =volva= forms a prominent sheath which is
usually quite soft and easily collapses (Fig. 77).

The entire plant is very brittle and fragile. It is considered an
excellent one for food. I often eat it raw when collecting.

Authors differ as to the number of species recognized in the plant as
described above. Secretan recognized as many as ten species. The two
prominent color forms are quite often recognized as two species, or by
others as varieties; the gray or mouse colored form as _A. livida_
Pers., and the tawny form as _A. spadicea_ Pers. According to Fries and
others the _livida_ appears earlier in the season than _spadicea_, and
this fact is recognized by some as entitling the two to specific rank.
Plowright (Trans. Brit. Mycol. Soc., p. 40, 1897--98) points out that in
European forms of _spadicea_ there is a second volva inside the outer,
and in _livida_ there are "folds or wrinkles of considerable size on the
inner surface of the volva." He thinks the two entitled to specific
rank. At Ithaca and in the mountains of North Carolina I have found both
forms appearing at the same season, and thus far have been unable to
detect the differences noted by Plowright in the volva. But I have