EDIBLE FUNGI. 119 



months, on road-sides, pastures, and waste places. It is 

 extremely variable in size. Its general appearance is so 

 distinct and striking, that it cannot possibly be mistaken 

 for any other agaric. It grows so abundantly on waste 

 ground in the dwellings and farm-yards that it may be, 

 says Dr. Bull, called the " agaric of civilization ;" and for 

 both these reasons it is most valuable as an edible agaric. 

 If its merits were known, it would be eaten as freely as 

 the common field mushroom. 



" The maned mushrooms/' Miss Plues has well said, 

 " grow in dense clusters, each young plant like an at- 

 tenuated egg, white and smooth. Presently some exceed 

 the others in rapidity of growth, and their heads get 

 above the ground, the stem elongates rapidly, the ring 

 falls loosely round the stem, the margin of the pileus 

 enlarges, and the oval head assumes a bell-shape; then 

 a faint tint of brown spreads universally or in blotches 

 over the upper part of the pileus, and the whiteness of 

 its gills changes to a dull pink. A few more hours and 

 the even head of the pileus has split in a dozen places, 

 the sections curl back, melt out of all form into an inky 

 fluid, and on the morrow's dawn a black stain on the 

 ground will be all that remains. And so on with the 

 others in succession/' 



Opinions on the Merits of Coprinus comatus as an 

 Edible Fungus. " Esculent when young." Berkeley. 



" Young specimens should be selected." Bad/tarn. 



