A FEW COMMON MUSHROOMS. 43 
A Few Common Mushrooms. II. 
BY MARIA L. CLOUGH. 
Everyone must have seen in the grass, patches stained jet 
black by an inky fluid. These spots are generally due to the 
growth and decay of fungi of the genus Coprinus, for these 
toadstools at maturity actually melt away into a veritable ink 
of the very blackest hue the color of which is due to the pres¬ 
ence of the black spores of the plant. 
This property of deliquescence into a black fluid, is the char¬ 
acteristic mark of this genus, the representatives of which grow 
upon lawns and along the sides of streets but especially flourish 
in subuiban waste lands and upon dumps where ashes are dis¬ 
posed of. They are gilled mushrooms of what may be called 
the u closed umbrella ” shape ; sometimes, indeed, the caps are 
of a distinctly oval or egg form, with the gills completely hid¬ 
den from sight by the closed form of the cap. Probably the 
best known and most valuable member of the genus is the 
“shaggy-maned” mushroom or Coprinus comatus. (Fig. 5.) 
This delicate, evanescent plant may be found freely here¬ 
abouts from late summer until time of 
killing frosts and also may occasionally 
appear in the spring. Clusters of them 
may be found pushing upward through the 
soil of lands where ashes are being used 
for filling, strongly reminding one of a 
colony of eggs set upon end in the ground. 
The cap is of pearly white, in length from 
2 to 7 inches and is usually marked with 
shaggy scales of a darker color. The 
gills are not attached to the stem and in 
color range from light flesh pink, through FIG - 5* 
salmon color and purplish until they assume the inky black of 
maturity. The stem is white in color and hollow, measuring 
nearly 10 inches in length in some specimens and usually is en- 
