in butter with pepper and salt it is excellent;” “edible, tender 
and delicious;” “in flavor it resembles the Common mushroom, 
to which it is quite equal, if not superior; it is clearly more di- 
gestible and less likely to disagree with persons of delicate con- 
stitutions,” are opinions recorded in its favor. 
The Inky coprinus, C. atramentarius, has a gray or grayish- 
brown smooth cap, except that sometimes there is a slight scaly 
appearance on its centre or disk. It is often irregular on the 
margin. When young it is somewhat egg-shaped. The gills are 
at first crowded and whitish, or grayish, but they soon become 
brown and begin to deliquesce. The stem is smooth, hollow and 
white. It sometimes has a slight vestige of a collar near its base 
when young, but all traces of it soon disappear. It grows in clus- 
ters in gardens and waste places, appearing in autumn. The 
black fluid of its dissolving gills has sometimes been employed as 
a poor substitute for ink. 
A form is often found in woods in the latter part of summer, 
which is smaller, but more regular and beautiful than that grow- 
ing in the open country. It is the Wood variety, var. silvestris. 
The Glistening coprinus, 
C. micaceus, is a small, but 
common and pretty species. 
Its cap is thin, generally con- 
ical or bell-shaped, and 
marked with numerous stri- 
N\ 
iN NN ations, or parallel longitudi- 
ANIONS 
My, nal impressed lines which 
extend from the margin half 
way or more toward the top 
or centre. The centre is even, 
and often a little more highly 
colored than the rest. In the 
young plant, especially, the 
cap is often sprinkled with 
shining atoms, which have 
suggested the name, but these 
are not very noticeable, and 
they are frequently absent. 
The color is variable, and 
ranges from buff to ochra- 
ceous, reddish ochraceous, or 
tawny yellow. It often be- 
comes sordid or brownish in 
old age, or in wet weather. 
35 
WW 
Coprinus micaccus, natural size. 
