A CATALOGUE OF ESCULENT BRITISH FUNGI. 93 



Section. Flesh thin, fragile. Stem hollow, banded within. 

 Gills whitish, then brown, lastly black and deliquescent, ventricose, 

 roanded behind, free. Odour slight. Taste pleasant. Spores 

 black. 



Ohs. In chapter vii. It must always be gathered young, and is then 

 good.— TF. D. H. 



(83.) COPRINUS COMATUS ; The Maned Inkcap. 



Habitat. Rank soil in pastures, gardens, woods, railway embank- 

 ments, etc. In groups. 



Season. August to November. Common. 



Pileus. Three to four inches high, two or three across, white, 

 squamose with broad, feathery, fibrillose scales ; ovate, conical, 

 apex tinted lilac or pinky-brown. Margin thin, splitting, curling 

 outward. 



Stein. Four to six inches high, white, perhaps pinky, cylindrical, 

 attenuate upward, bulbous below, rooting, brittle, fibrilloso- 

 squamose. Ring movable. 



Section. Flesh white, pinky under cuticle, thick at apex, finely 

 plicate, fragile. Stem hollow, containing fibrils, base solid. Gills 

 pinky-lilac at first, then brown, black, and liquefying, numerous, 

 linear, entire, free. Odour farinaceous. Taste agi^eeable. Spores 

 black. 



Obs. In chapter vii. It is the best edible of the genus. — W. D. H. 



(84.) COPRINUS OVATUS ; The Little Maned Inkcap. 



Habitat. On rank soils, manure-heaps, etc. Solitary. 



Season. August to October. Not common. 



Pileus. Two to three inches high, one to two inches across, 

 white ; ovate, conical, campaniform, striate, delicate. Cuticle at 

 first woven into densely imbricate, thick, concentric scales, which 

 at length become feathery. Margin thin. 



Stem. Two to four inches high, white, floccose, attenuate, 

 bulbous, rooting. Ring evanescent. 



Section. Flesh thin, fragile. Stem hollow above, solid below. 

 Gills at first whitish, then pinky, brown, black, and liquefying, lan- 

 ceolate, narrow, remote. Odour slight. Taste pleasant. Spores 

 black. 

 Ob$. Young specimens are good, very similar to C. comatus. — W. D. H. 



