Medium-sized mushroom. up to half a foot tall. Cap bell-shaped, pale brownish, with yellowish patches. Stalk whitish to yellowish, hollow. Gills are whitish.  As mushroom matures cap flattens, turns dark brown, and then liquefies into a black inky liquid. Meanwhile gills turn black and finally liquefy with the cap.  The cap edges are liquefying in the lower right photograph.  Grows on decaying logs and buried wood.  Usually seen in June to July

Found throughout eastern North America. In Wildwood sometimes common wherever there are suitable decaying logs.

There are at least three other species of mushroom in Wildwood that turn themselves into black ink when finished releasing spores.  The related Alcohol inky (Coprinopsis atramentaria) is similar, but is smaller and the bell-shaped cap is smooth, not patchy. Hare's Foot Inkcap (Coprinopsis lagopus) is much more fragile.  The Shaggy Mane (Coprinus comatus) is also similar, but taller, with a shaggy, rather than patchy, cap.  Suprisingly, the Shaggy Mane is not closely related to the other two, although they all three liquefy. Another relative of Scaly Ink Cap is the Non-Inky Coprinus (Coprinellus disseminatus), which, as you might guess from its name, doesn't melt itself into ink.