Melanosporae 



clusters soon fill baskets, and its continuous growth in some places, from Coprinus. 

 month to month, year to year, makes it one to be depended upon. 

 Stewed for ten minutes it makes a rich, luscious dish. C. congregatus 

 closely resembles it and is equally good. 



****** Glabra'ti. Pileus smooth, etc. 



C. deliques'cens (Bull.) Fr. PileilS 3-4 in. broad, livid-fuliginous, 

 membranaceous, bell-shaped then expanded, smooth, but dotted with 

 minute points on the disk, never downy or split, the edge turning up- 

 ward and striate, the striae broad but not deep. Stem 4 in. long, 2-4 

 lines thick, hollow, with a bark-like covering, equally attenuated up- 

 ward, smooth, shining white. Gills free, at length remote from the stem, 

 very crowded, flexuous, very narrow, only % line broad, lurid-blackish. 

 Fries, 



Frequent on stumps and among fallen leaves, sometimes in tufts. 

 July to October. 



Spores elliptical, obliquely apiculate, 8x5/4 Massee. 



Sometimes confounded with C. atramentarius. 



West Virginia, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Mcllvaine. 



C. deliquescens is of good size and quality. The sterns do not cook 

 well with the caps. The flavor is the same as C. atramentarius. 



C. COngrega'tllS (Bull.) Fr. Pileus >-K in. high, cylindrical, then 

 bell-shaped, finally expanded and split at the margin, smooth, viscid, 

 margin slightly striate, ochraceous. Gills about I line broad, slightly 

 adnexed, white, finally becoming black. Stem I / in. high, equal, 

 smooth, hollow, whitish. 



On the ground, also in hot-houses. Massee. 



Readily distinguished by the densely cespitose mode of growth, the 

 small size, the viscid, ochraceous, glabrous pileus which remains elon- 

 gato-cylindrical for some time, then becomes campanulate and finally 

 expands and splits at the margin. 



Densely cespitose, fragile, readily distinguished from C. digitalis by 

 its much smaller size. Fries. 



Spores 7x8/4 W.G.S.; 10x5/4 W.P. 



Fries and Cooke considered this a good species. 



So closely allied to neighboring species that it is difficult to deter- 

 mine it. Edible qualities are included in the alliance. 



379 



