rooms, and one correspondent affirms that their flavor mav be 

 greatly improved by cooking one or tAvo caps of the common 

 mushroom with them. They are often utilized in the maniifac- 

 tm-e of catsup. 



Three species may be classed as ediblte. They are recogniza- 

 ble by the color of the caps. 



Cap white or whitish, C. comatus. 



Cap gray or grayish-broAvn, C atramentarius. 



Cap ochraceous or reddish-ochraceous, C. micaceus. 



The Shaggy coprinus or "Maned agaric," Coprinus comatus, 

 has the cap, when young, oblong or cylindrical. It is then much 

 longer than broad, but it expands with age. Its general color is 



white or whitish, but it is 

 adorned with fibrillose scales 

 which are slightly colored, 

 usually of a yellowish hue, 

 and at the top is a yellowish, 

 smooth surface, as if covered 

 with a cuticle. The gills are 

 at first very closely packed 

 side by side and white, but 

 with advancing age they sep- 

 arate and pinkish or pur- 

 plish tints appear, soon to 

 change to black. The stem is 

 white and hollow. In the 

 young plant, it has a collar 

 close to the appressed margin 

 of the cap. It is slightly ad- 

 herent or movable, and has 

 generally disappeared by the 

 time the plant is mature. 

 The cap is one and a half to 

 three inches long before ex- 

 pansion, and the stem is three 

 to five inches long. The 

 plant is fragile and easily 

 broken. It grows in rich, 

 loose earth by roadsides, in 

 pastures or waste places, and 

 on dumping grounds about 

 cities. It appears in autumn and may sometimes be found quite 

 late in the season. 



"When young, it is very sapid and delicate;" "cooked quickly 



34 



Coprinus coiiiatiis, two-thinls size. 



