Figure [43] is from a group of three young individuals photographed just as the margin of the pileus is breaking away from the lower part of the stem, showing the delicate fibrous ring which is formed in the same way as in Coprinus atramentarius. The ring is much more delicate and is rarely seen except in very young specimens which are carefully collected and which have not been washed by rains. The mature plants are 8–10 cm. high (3–4 inches), and the cap varies from 2–4 cm. in diameter. The stem is quite slender and the cap and gills quite thin as compared with the shaggy-mane and ink-cap. The gills are not nearly so crowded as they are in the two other species. The cap is tan color, or light buff, or yellowish brown. Except near the center it is marked with quite prominent striations which radiate to the margin. These striations are minute furrows or depressed lines, and form one of the characters of the species, being much more prominent than on the cap of the ink-cap.
Figure 43.—Coprinus micaceus, young stage showing annulus, on the cap the "mica" particles (natural size).
Figure 44.—Coprinus micaceus, plants natural size, from floor of coal mine at Wilkesbarre. Caps tan color. Copyright.
In wet weather this coprinus melts down into an inky fluid also, but in quite dry weather it remains more or less firm, and sometimes it does not deliquesce at all, but dries with all parts well preserved, though much shrunken of course, as is the case with all the very fleshy fungi.
