146 BEPORT OF THE 6TATE BOTANIST. 



middle. The center is smooth and often a little more highly- 

 colored than the rest. The glistening particles which are sug- 

 gestive of the name of this little mushroom are not often notice- 

 able, and when present on the young cap they often disappear 

 with age. The margin is frequently notched or lobed and wavy 

 and it is apt to become split as the cap expands. The color varies 

 from a pale whitish-buff to tawny-yellow or reddish-ochraceous. 

 It becomes sordid or brownish in old age, especially if wet or 

 water-soaked. 



The gills, as in the preceding species, are at first crowded and 

 whitish, but they soon change color, becoming pinkish tinted and 

 then brown and black. 



The stem is slender, fragile, smooth, hollow and white. The 

 brown color of the spores is unusual in this genus. 



Cap one to two inches broad, stem one to three inches long, 

 rarely thicker than a pipe stem. 



The Glistening coprinus grows in clusters on the ground or on 

 decaying wood. It occurs from Maj^ to November. It appears 

 in wet weather and sometimes seems to anticipate rain, starting 

 to grow two or three days before a rain storm. Several success- 

 ive crops often come up about a single old stump in one season. 

 When a cluster appears to grow from the ground it is quite prob- 

 able that it really starts from some decaying root or other piece 

 of wood buried in the earth. It is not uncommon to find it grow- 

 ing from places in the margin of the sidewalks of our cities 

 where shade trees have been cut down, the decaying stump and 

 roots furnishing the necessary habitat. In such cases the boys of 

 the street delight in kicking the clusters to pieces and stamping 

 them out of existence, thinking probably that they are abund- 

 antly justified in destroying a vile toadstool which might other- 

 wise be the means of poisoning some one. These tufts are some- 

 times very large and composed of very many plants closely 

 crowded together. Sometimes the caps crack into small areas, 

 the white flesh showing itself in the chinks. 



European writers do not record the Glistening coprinus among 

 the edible species, perhaps because of its small size. But it com- 

 pensates for its lack of size by its frequency and abundance, and 

 it has the advantage of being easily and frequently procurable. 

 In tenderness and delicacy it does not appear to me to be at all 



