tractive looking mushroom,
usually symmetrical in shape. It is a fleshier mushroom than L.
_procera_, and is found in grassy places, in lawns, sometimes in
gardens, or by roadsides, especially where the soil is rich. The
specimens figured in Plate XI were gathered in a rose garden, growing in
loamy soil. Specimens have been received from different States, some of
them much larger than those here illustrated.

This mushroom is recorded by some authors as equal in flavor to the
Parasol mushroom. When stewed with butter it makes a very appetizing
dish.

There is a fatally poisonous mushroom to which it bears some
resemblance, and which might be taken for it, viz., Amanita _verna_, or
"Spring mushroom." It is therefore necessary, in order to guard against
such a mistake, to give particular attention to the characteristics of
these two mushrooms. They are both white throughout, and both have white
spores and ringed stem. Amanita _verna_, however, carries a white volva
or cup-shaped sheath at the base of the stem, and the gills do not show
a pinkish or flesh colored tinge at any stage. In Lepiota _naucinoides_,
as in all the Lepiotas, the volva is wanting. Amanita _verna_ is apt to
be moist and clammy to the touch, and is tasteless. L. _naucinoides_ is
dry, and has a pleasant flavor. The first is found _wholly_ in _woods_;
the second prefers pastures, open grassy places, and gardens, though
sometimes found in light woods. I have never found an Amanita in a lawn,
pasture, or garden.

An edible mushroom, Agaricus (Psalliota) _cretaceus_, found in pastures,
bears a slight resemblance to L. _naucinoides_, when the color of the
spores and gills are not taken into consideration. In the former the
gills very quickly change from their early stage of rosy pink to a dark
purplish-brown color, like that of the common mushroom. The spores are
purplish-brown, while in L. _naucinoides_ the pinkish hue which tinges
the fading plant is very faint, and changes to a very light tan color
with age. The spores being white, the gills retain their white color for
a long time, never changing to dark brown.

L. _Americana_ Pk. A. & S., L. _excoriata_ Schaeff., and L.
_rubrotincta_ Pk. have been tested and are of good flavor.

L. _Americana_ has a reddish or reddish-brown cap, umbonate, with close
adpressed scales and white flesh. The gills are broad and free from the
stem, sometimes anastomosing near it, white; stem white, hollow,
tapering towa