COPRINUS MICACEUS 



339 



microscopic details. However, Massee^ in his British Fungus-Flora 

 states that " The pileus is covered with glistening minute crystals 

 of oxalate of lime." I have examined a considerable number 

 of pilei of Coprinus micaceus but have never seen any crystals 

 of oxalate of lime upon them. It is true that minute crystals of 

 oxalate of lime are present in the walls of the meal-cells of Oojjrinus 



A B 



Fig. 151.— Coprinus micaceus. A, a surface view of a pileus showing : the outer- 

 most layer made up of palisade cells, a, and a few of the loose scale cells, b. 

 B, some of the spherical cells making up the loose scales on the top of the 

 pileus : their walls are free from crystals of calcium oxalate ; c, a chain of cells 

 showing mode of origin one from the other. Magnification, 293. 



stercorarius and C. narcoticus, but this is not so with C. micaceus. 

 In this species, as in Coprinus niveus, the walls of the meal-cells 

 are quite smooth (Fig. 151). Occasionally I have found grams of 

 sand upon the top of pilei of Coprinus micaceus, but it was evident 

 that these mineral bodies had been carried up from the ground. 

 Since an examination of the glistening particles making up the meal 

 of C. micaceus reveals that they are composed of smooth-walled 

 cells, there can be no doubt that Massee was in error in stating that 

 the shining particles on the pileus consist of crystals of oxalate of 



1 G. Massee, British Fungus-Flora, vol. i, 1892, p. 317. 



