THE LARGER KI'XGI 
156 
with some innate fibrils, edge sometimes striate, flesh thin, near Lemon Chrome 
(iv.), or Mustard Yellow (XVI.) to Primuline Yellow (xvi.), when old becoming 
near Yellow Ochre (xv.), or Light Cadmium in the centre with the periphery 
paler, or Empire Yellow (iv.) becoming browner near Pinkish Buff (xxix.), or 
approaching egg-vellow or yellow with a brownish tinge. Gills just reaching the 
stem or nearly free, short ones at the periphery, close, narrow (] to Jin., (5 to 
12 mm., deep), pallid or pale yellowish, then dingy salmon or watery brown, 
soon near Sudan Brown (ill.) becoming near Argus Brown (nr.), or near Cinna- 
mon Brown (xv.). Stem 1 to iiiin. (2.5 to 8 cm.), slender to moderately stout 
(up to Jin., 1.2 cm., thick), rather fragile, equal or attenuated upwards, slightly 
(i b r ill ose to markedly fibrillose-llocculoxe to pruiuose or mealy, hollow, whitish 
usually with faint tinges of yellow above, the flesh usually slightly yellowish. 
Flesh of pileus up to S/Hlin. (4.5 mm.) thick over the disc, attenuated outwards. 
Stem free from the pileus. Spores in the mass near Cinnamon Brown (xv.), 
microscopically yellow-brown, elliptical, usually 13 to 17 x 7.5 to 10 /x, occasionally 
smaller, 11.2 to 12.8 x 8 /x. On horse dung, manured soil, spent chaff or occa- 
sionally lawns. South Australia — Glen Osmond; Beaumont; Fullarton; Grange; 
in buffalo grass lawn, North Terrace; Kinchina; National Park; Encounter Bay; 
Inman Valley; Kabmgadoo (S.E.). May to August. 
This quite common species on dung-heaps, especially when there is straw, 
differs from />. vitellinus in the brighter yellow pileus and in the gills being 
pale yellow when young, but agrees in the cream-coloured stem and fleshy disc. 
The spores are often a little larger than in B. vitellinus and B. Boltoni and still 
more so than in />. flavidn s. The stem often tms a trace of yellow and B. Boltoni 
has a yellowish stem and also flocei on it. Bolti have gills slightly a dilate and 
light yellow when young, but the flesh of B. Boltoni is very thin (Rea) and 
our species is not attenuated at the base but often the reverse, as in B. fhnvidus. 
It does not' really deliquesce like B. / 1 avid ns . The pileus is sometimes con- 
siderably larger than the sizes mentioned by Rea for any of the three species. 
On the whole it seems best to consider it as /’. Boltoni. 
241. Bolbi'tius fragilis (L.) Fr. ( L., fnujMs, fragile). — Pileus l to lfin. 
( 2.1 to 4.3 cm,), at first ovate, then broadly conical, 4 to Jin. (1.2 to 1.8 cm.) 
high, then expanding, snbinembranaceous, subgibbons, edge striate and fraying, 
viscid, edge near Straw Yellow (xvi.), apex near Light Cadmium (iv.) or near 
i’inard Yellow (iv.), or Apricot Yellow (tv.), paler and greyer towards the 
margin. (Jills adnatc or adnexed, ascending, narrow, short ones present, whitish 
or yellowish then lighter than Dresden Brown (xv.) or Buckthorn Brown (xv.) or 
a Watery Russet (xv.). Stem If to 4in. (4.4 to 10 cm.), slender, fragile, 
slightly attenuated upwards, mealy above, sometimes finely striate, hollow, tinted 
with yellow or paler than Straw Yellow (xvi.) (in one collection white). Flesh 
thin, yellowish. Spore mass near Buckthorn Brown (xV.), spores yellow brown, 
10.5 to 15 x 7 to 8 /x. Amongst grass and mould or on or near dung. South 
Australia — National Park; Greenhill Road; Baker’s Gully, near Clarendon; Port 
Lincoln, on rabbits’ dung. April to June. 
B. Spores black or blackish fuscous. Gills auto-digested from below upwards. 
COPRINUS (Pers.) Fr. 
(Gr., kopros, dung.) 
•‘Pileus fleshy or membranaceous, regular. Stem central, confluent with or 
distinct from the pileus, with or without a ring or vulva. Gills free, adriate or 
attached to a collar, very thin, parallel-sided or sub parallel-sided, auto-digested 
from below upwards. Spores black, violet black, chocolate or fuscous; oval, 
elliptical, subglobose, angularly subglobose, pip-shaped, almond-shaped or cordi 
form; smooth, very rarely echinulate; with an apical germ-pore. Cystidia usually 
large, rarely absent. Growing on the ground, on dung or on wood. Solitary or 
eaespit'ose. ' ' — Rea. 
The species of Copritvun are characterised by their black or blackish spores 
and the deliquescing gills. The last-named liquefy from the free edge upwards, 
thus giving the later-maturing spores near the attachment of the gills a better 
opportunity of falling free from the gill-plates when discharged. As a result 
of the deliquescence, the plants rapidly become an inky mass when mature. Some 
