What is it?!!!!

  Down near the wild persimmon trees on the edge of the Bayou, one can find any number of interesting things.  It seems that this spot is a haven for critters and a good growing spot for a number of different plants and fungi.  The hike there and on around behind the canebrake is one of the more interesting spots (other than the pier, of course!).  This out-of-the-way, road-less-traveled area literally crawls with critters and, at times, resembles an overgrown rainforest with its vines and large clumps of palmettos.  It was on one of my hikes recently that I found and photographed a large mushroom.

  The mushroom in question was like none I have seen before on the hillside.  It was the size of a dinner plate and was rather flat being only about four inches tall.  I could not see the underside without disturbing the 'shroom so I just left it be.  The texture was more "meaty" than other mushrooms in the area and it was quite noticeably attractive to ants. Not only were the ants munching on the outer portion of the cap but they had dug several holes down in the center and were busying themselves by carrying stuff in and out of the center.  If you look closely at the picture, you can see several ants having their supper at the expense of the mushroom.

  The fact that ants seemed to love the mushroom was odd enough but it is that photograph that almost gave me the willies!  When I was flipping through the photographs that I had taken that day, I was taken aback by the sight of the mushroom.  It almost had the appearance of skin...wrinkly old skin!  Ok...that was freaky!  The fungus resembled some dead critter or worse.  Even the coloring was not unlike flesh!  Creepy! 

  Since finding this unidentified bit of fungus, I have looked high and low for another but have not seen any just like it.  Was this a fluke?  Did something happen to make the mushroom wrinkly and pink?  Why were ants devouring this thing so hastily?  Questions!  Always questions! Too bad I have no answers!  I am quite positive that some expert could identify this massive thing but since I know of no such folks, it will remain a mystery.