[1] It is a delicate and short-lived fungus, the fruit bodies lasting only a few hours before dissolving into a black ink – a process called deliquescence.

[2] The vague resemblance of the young fruit body to the paw of a white rabbit has earned this species the common name harefoot mushroom.

In a series of experiments, Arthur Henry Reginald Buller grew spores on horse dung and noted a large range of size variation: the smallest specimen having a stem length of 1 mm and cap diameter of 0.75 mm, while the largest specimen had a stem length of 18.4 cm (7+1⁄4 in) and cap diameter of 2 cm.

[4] Buller noted that the dwarf fruit-bodies are fully functional, producing and liberating spores in a manner identical with normal ones.

[6] The color of the cap surface is pale to very dark-brown at center beneath the whitish to silvery grey veil but becomes paler towards the margin.

The cystidia found on the sides of the gills (pleurocystidia) are abundant in large fruit bodies, fewer in number in the smaller specimens.

It has a widespread distribution throughout the world.The related species Coprinopsis lagopides (P. Karst) Redhead, Vilgalys & Montcalvo is similar in appearance, but more typically grows on a substrates like humus, or burnt or charred wood; it also tends to deliquesce more quickly and completely than C. lagopus.