l60 EDIBLE MUSHROOMS 



first creamy white, but gradually changing through 

 a whole gamut of pinks, sepias, and browns until they 

 become black, at which time the whole substance of 

 the cap melts on its elongated stalk — 

 Inky deliquesces into an unsightly inky paste, 



deliquescence which besmears the grass and ultimate- 

 ly leaves only the bare white stem 

 standing in its midst, a peculiar method of dissem- 

 ination which distinguishes the group Coprinus, of 

 which it is the most conspicuous example. This is 

 the " shaggy-mane " mushroom, Coprinus comatustthe 

 specific name signifying a wig — "from the fancied 

 resemblance to a wig on a barber's block." Even 

 a brief description is unnecessary with its portrait 

 before us. It is a savory morsel, and it cannot be 

 confounded with any other fungus. It frequently 

 grows in such dense, crowded masses that a single 

 group will afford a dinner for a familyjl 



It should be gathered while the giHs are in the 

 early white or pink stage, and may be prepared for 

 the table in various ways, either broiled or fried, as 

 described for previous species, or stewed with milk, 

 or otherwise served according to the culinary hints in 

 our later chapter, in which a special recipe for this 

 species is found. 



In a recent stroll down the main street of Litch- 

 field, Connecticut, I observed, over the fence in a 

 front door-yard of a summer resident, just such a 

 dense cluster of the shaggy Coprinus, the proprietor 

 of the premises, an appreciative habitue of Delmoni- 

 co's at other seasons of the year, complacently read- 

 ing his morning paper in his piazza, little dreaming 



