Agaricaceae 



Series V. MELANOS'POR.ffi (spores black). Gr. black; Gr. seed. 



\ /ARIOUS as are the spore colors in this series (in 



\ / its broadest sense), there is an entire absence of 

 A ^Ilii brown and purple shades in the black spores of four 

 of the genera belonging to this group or series. In 

 Gomphidius the spores are dingy-olivaceous. It 

 is an outsider affiliating with thoroughbreds because 

 of more technical congeniality than other genera 

 afford. Like comets in the universe, it has no 



home. The singular genus Montagnites (of which but one species has 

 been found in America, and that in Texas) has the relationship of 

 spore-color. Panseolus, Anellaria, Psathyrella, when young, have gills 

 free from each other; Coprinus, in early life, presents them pressed 

 tightly together; as the plants age and the spores ripen, the entire gill 

 structure becomes black and dissolves into an inky fluid, the color of 

 which is due to the spores. 



The species are all of delicate body, and many of them add gener- 

 ously to table luxuries. 



COPKI'NUS Pers. 



Gr. dung. 



t 



Coprinus. Pileus separate from the stem. Gills membranaceous, at first closely 

 pressed together, cohering, at length melting into a black fluid. Trania 

 obsolete. Spores oval, even, black. 



The extreme closeness of the gills and their entire deliquescence into 

 a fluid, black from the spores, sharply define this genus and separate it 

 from all others. At first the form is oval or cylindrical ; most are 

 furnished with a downy or scurfy veil often adhering to the pileus, 

 sometimes forming an adhering volva at the base of the stem. Nearly 

 all are ephemeral, many completely disappearing in a day. 



Cystidia (sterile cells) of large size are frequent on the gills of many 

 species. 



368 



