Melanosporse 



way from margin to disk, at first villous or silky, disk rather fleshy with Coprinus. 

 rough scales, silvery-gray, tinged with brown at the apex. Flesh thin. 

 Gills free, ventricose, about 2 lines broad, pale then umber-purple. 

 Stem 46 in. high, slightly attenuated upward, white, fibrillose, hollow, 

 thickened base solid, and booted for about an inch from the base, mar- 

 gin of sheath ending in a free border or ring. 



On dung. A fine large species known by the scaly apex of the pi- 

 leus, the basal portion of the stem surrounded by a volva-like, adnate 

 structure with a free upper margin. The stem soon becomes black when 

 bruised. Base of stem not rooting but abrupt, and furnished with a few 

 white fibers. Massee. 



Edible, Cooke, 1891 ; also Leuba. 



Nova Scotia, Dr. Somers. 



This species is not reported as found in the United States, 



**Atramentarii. Ring imperfect, etc. 



C. atramentarius (Bull.) Fr. atramentum, ink. (Plate CIII, fig. 

 i, p. 372.) Pileus i%-4 in. across, ovate, expanding, grayish, lead- 

 color or grayish-brown, with occasionally a few obscure scales on disk, 

 often covered with bloom ; margin ribbed, sometimes notched, soft, ten- 

 der. Gills free, ventricose, up to % in. broad, crowded and at first 

 cohering and white with white floccose edges, then becoming black and 

 dissolving into ink. Stem up to 5 in. long, up to > in. thick, smooth, 

 whitish, hollow, at first spindle-shaped, then attenuated upward, with 

 more or less distinct ring near base. 



Spores subcylindrical, large cystidia numerous, I2x6/* Massee/ 9-10 

 x6/A K.; 9x5/x W.G.S.; 8-io/t long Peck. 



Indiana, H . I. Miller; Harrisburg, Pa., Dr. J. H. Fager; West Vir- 

 ginia, Mcllvaine. 



The stem is obscurely banded within, by which it may be recognized 

 with certainty. 



It grows singly or in clusters of many individuals on rich ground, 

 whether lawns, gardens, gutter sides, or in woods, but not on dung. I 

 know of a fine cluster growing year after year on a much-decayed pear- 

 stump. Occasionally it appears in the spring months, but is common 

 during the summer and autumn after rains, and from its first appearance 



373 



