bles _A. asper_ in some
respects, but it is smaller and the spores are much smaller, being very
minute. The plant is 5--8 cm. high, the pileus 2--4 cm. broad, and the
stem 4--6 mm. in thickness. It grows in leaf mould in the woods and has
been found at Ithaca, N. Y., twice during July and September, 1897.

The =pileus= is convex and bell-shaped, becoming nearly or quite
expanded. It is hair brown to olive brown in color. The surface is dry,
made up of interwoven threads, and is adorned with numerous small,
erect, pointed scales resembling in this respect _A. asper_ Fr. The
=gills= are white or yellowish, free, but rather close to the stem,
narrow, often eroded on the edge, sometimes forked near the stem, and
some of them arranged in pairs. The spores are oblong, smooth, and very
minute, measuring 5 x 2 mu. The =stem= is the same color as the pileus,
cylindrical, hollow, with loose threads in the cavity, enlarged into a
rounded bulb below, minutely downy to pubescent. The outer portion of
the bulb is formed of intricately interwoven threads, among which are
entangled soil and humus particles. The =veil= is white, silky, hairy,
separating from the stem like a dense cortina, the threads stretched
both above and below as shown in Fig. 84 from plants (No. 3157 C. U.
herbarium), collected at Ithaca.

In some specimens, as the pileus expands, the spaces between the pointed
scales are torn, thus forming quite coarse scales which are often
arranged in more or less concentric rows, showing the yellow-tinged
flesh in the cracks, and the coarse scales bearing the fine point at the
center. A layer connecting the margin of the pileus with the base of the
stem and covered with fine brown points, sometimes separates from the
edge of the cap and the base of the stem, and clings partly to the
cortina and partly to the stem in much the same way that portions of the
volva cling to the stem of certain species of _Amanita_, as seen in _A.
velatipes_ (Fig. 66). Sometimes this is left on the base of the stem
and then resembles a short, free limb of a volva, and suggests a species
of _Amanita_. The scales, however, are concrete with the pileus, and the
species appears to show a closer relationship with _Lepiota_.

[Illustration: PLATE 26, FIGURE 84.--Lepiota asperula. Cap hair-brown to
olive-brown, scales minute, pointed, gills and stem white (natural
size). Copyright.]

ARMILLARIA Fr.

In the genus _Armillaria_ the inner veil which for