three inches broad, yellowish on the margin, and red or brown- 
ish-red in the centre. The flesh is white, and has a mild taste. 
The gills are at first pale yellow, but soon this color is tinged 
with green, and when mature they are purplish-brown. The 
stem is rather slender, commonly two to three or three and a half 
inches long, and two to four lines thick. It is yellow above, but 
more or less reddish or rusty-red toward the base. It is distinctly 
hollow, even in young specimens. The pores are purplish-brown, 
and often they are produced in such quantity that the caps of the 
lower specimens in a cluster are badly soiled and stained by 
them. 
This species is so closely related to the Brick-red mushroom, 
H. sublateritium, that by its external characters it is not easily 
separated from it. Indeed, it is so closely allied to it that it may 
easily be regarded as a mere variety of it. The typical form of 
the Brick-red mushroom may be known by its bitter taste and its 
stuffed stem. In color it is almost the same as the Perplexing 
mushroom, except in its gills. Our species is also closely related 
to the Gray-gilled mushroom, H. epixanthum, and to the Tufted 
Yellow mushroom, H. fasciculare. The perplexing thing about 
it is that it combines the characters of these three species. It has 
the cap colored like the Brick-red mushroom, it has the mild 
taste of the Gray-gilled mushroom and the greenish tint to the 
immature gills, which is seen in the Tufted Yellow mushroom. 
It is very abundant in some hilly and mountainous districts, and 
it continues to appear until its growth is stopped by cold, freez- 
ing weather. 
The genus Coprinus is one easily recognized. Many of the 
species grow on dung, as the name implies, but some grow on 
the ground, and others on decaying wood. Most of the plants 
are very short-lived, and some of them literally grow up in a 
night and decay in a day. The gills in all of them deliquesce 
when mature and form a black ink-like liquid which has sug- 
gested for these plants the name “Inky fungi.” The spores are 
black, with few exceptions, and consequently the color of the 
mature gills as well as of the liquid they form is black. Most of 
the plants are of such small size, and of such an ephemeral exist- 
ence, that they are of little value as food. Even the larger and 
more durable kinds have very thin caps, and must be gathered 
and cooked with promptitude. They should be used before the 
gills turn black, or they will make a repulsive looking dish. 
They are not generally credited with possessing a high flavor, 
but they are among the most tender and digestible of all mush- 
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