MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 123 
or fluffy on the outside, and white with a little yellow at 
the apex. This species is not as compact as the preceding. 
Coprinus micaceus is a species buff to cinnamon-buff in 
color, one to two inches in diameter, with caps much thinner 
than the pares species and more expanded, becoming 
convex. If held in a position favorable for reflecting the 
light, little mica-like scales may be seen on the upper sur- 
face of the caps, the name “micaceus” referring to these 
particles. (C. micaceus has spores brownish black rather 
than the dead black of the preceding species; its fructifica- 
tions are of a little drier consistency and hence do not 
aha quite as rapidly, but the gills melt away within 
a few hours after they begin to blacken. This species grows 
in clusters in the ground and is very partial to the vicinity 
of buried decaying wood and dying trees. The clusters 
are often gregarious on lawns in ares of circles ten feet or 
more in diameter, forming the so-called ‘fairy a which 
may leave a lawn conspicuously discolored by their inky 
drippings if the crop is not harvested. 
An individual of this species has but little substance; 
still even a few will impart their toothsome flavor to a dish 
prepared as above indicated, and a pint of their caps will 
suffice for a meal for a small family. C. micaceus is really 
a mushroom of merit, for it persists in the same spot for 
many years and produces successive crops through the whole 
season following each period of wet weather. A large 
cluster of this species by the remnants of a willow stump 
in a back-yard garden in St. Louis has for several years 
been as highly prized as an asparagus bed. 
Hypholoma appendiculatum and Hypholoma Candol- 
leanum are two lawn mushrooms having much the same 
color as Coprinus micaceus but found less frequently and 
in less abundance. They do not deliquesce 2 oe maturity. 
Both are choice, edible species, and if they should be mis- 
taken for C. micaceus there would be no harm done. 
Agaricus campestris, commonly called the field or 
meadow mushroom, in some localities is found in quantity 
in favorable seasons during the cooler days of autumn. 
It is the chief wild mushroom sold on the market of Ameri- 
can cities and is practically the only one cultivated, but it is 
by no means abundant in the vicinity of St. Louis. The 
pisct has the typical agaric habit, and the general color 
of the upper surface is cream or smoky brown. It is fleshy, 
with a cap often three inches in diameter and a stout stem 
usually sbosik equaling in height the diameter of the cap. 
The gills are pink when young, turning brown-black with 
