One species, V. gloiocephala, is upon the authority of Letellier, given as poisonous. It is found in several parts of the United States, but no comment has been made upon its edibility. I have not seen it. A careful study of its botanic characters is urged. It should be regarded as poisonous until its reputation is cleared up, as it probably will be. ANALYSIS OF SPECIES. * Pileus dry, silky or fibrillose. ** Pileus more or less viscid, smooth. [Illustration: Photographed by Dr. J.R. Weist. PLATE LIX. VOLVARIA BOMBYCINA. ] * _Pileus dry, silky or fibrillose._ (Plate LIX_a_.) [Illustration: VOLVARIA BOMBYCINA. Natural size. ] =V. bombyci´na= Schaeff.—_bombyx_, silk. =Pileus= 3–8 in. broad, _wholly white_, fleshy, soft, at first globose, soon bell-shaped, at length convex, somewhat umbonate, _everywhere silky_ or, _when older, hairy-scaled_, more rarely becoming smooth at the vertex. =Flesh= not thick, white. =Stem= 3–6 in. long, ½ in. thick or more at the base, solid, equally attenuated from the base to the apex, even, smooth, white. =Volva=, soon torn asunder, ample, 2–3 in. broad, membranaceous, lax, slashed, somewhat viscid, persistent. =Gills= free, very crowded when young, almost cohering, ventricose, in groups of 2–4, then toothed, flesh-colored. Ovate when young. According to some becoming brownish. The stem is curved-ascending on vertical trunks and straight on prostrate ones. Commonly solitary, sometimes however cespitose. _Stevenson._ =Spores= elliptic, smooth, 6–7×4µ _Massee_; 6–8µ _Lloyd_. Considered edible. _Stevenson._ Edible. _Curtis._ Very general but not common over the United States. It is a large plant, from 3 in. upward across cap. Growing from wood, oaks, maples, beech, etc. The writer has not been successful in finding it. Drawing, spore-print and description received from _H.I. Miller_, Terre Haute, Ind. Upon such an authority as the late Dr. Curtis there is no doubt of its edibility. (Plate LX.) [Illustration: VOLVARIA VOLVACEA. Two-fifths natural size. ] =V. volva´cea= Bull.—_volva_, a wrapper. =Pileus= 2–3 in. across. =Flesh= white, thick at the disk, very thin elsewhere, soft, bell-shaped then expanded, obtuse, grayish-yellow, virgate or streaked with adpressed blackish fibrils. =Gills= free, about 2 lines broad, pale flesh-color. =Stem= 2–4 in. long, about 4 lines thick, almost equal, white, solid. Volva large, loose, whitish. =Spores= smooth, elliptical, 6–8×3.5–4µ; no cystidia. _Massee._ On the ground by roadsides, etc., also in stoves. Allied to V. bombycina, but constantly different in the less ample and less persistent, brownish volva. =Pileus= 3 in. across, rarely more, gray, elegantly virgate with blackish fibrils; flesh-color of the gills not so pure. _Fries._ Once found in woods at roots of a tree. It occurs every year in the cellar of our drug store. _Lloyd_ “Volvæ.”