RESEARCHES ON FUNGI 



a,wa,y. There were three obvious possibilities. Firstly, the drop 

 might run down the sterigma and spread itself over the basidium- 

 body ; secondly, the drop might become divided, part of it remaining 



on the sterigma and part of it 

 being carried away by the spore ; 

 and, thirdly, the drop might 

 be entirely carried away by the 

 spore. Against the first two 

 suppositions could be urged the 

 fact that no trace of the drop is 

 ever to be seen on the sterigma 

 or basidium-body immediately 

 after a spore has been dis- 

 charged. On the other hand, it 

 was observed that when spores 

 are allowed to fall on to a glass 

 slide placed beneath a fruit- 

 body one cannot observe that, 

 immediately they come to rest, 

 they are enveloped in a liquid 

 film. Close observation, how- 

 ever, has convinced me that 

 the spores do carry away the 

 drops with them. Evidence of 

 this fact was obtained for 

 Entolomo, prunuloides in the 

 following manner. Two basidia 

 were found near to one another 

 in the relative positions shown 

 in Fig. 6 at A. After one of 

 the basidia had shed three 

 of its spores, I watched the fourth intently (B). Quickly a 

 drop of water exuded from the hilum of the spore and in 

 5-10 seconds attained its maximum size (C). Then the spore was 

 shot away and the sterigma was left vacant (D). The flight of 

 the spore, as is usual in such observations, could not be followed 

 with the eye. However, at the moment of discharge, the spore 



FIG. 6. Entoloma prunuloides. Proof 

 that the water-drop is carried with 

 the spore. A, two adjacent basidia 

 on a living gill seen from above. 

 B, the left-hand basidium has dis- 

 charged three of its spores. C, at 

 the base of the fourth spore a 

 drop of water has been excreted 

 and has attained its maximum 

 size. D, the spore has been shot 

 upwards and has fallen upon one 

 of the spores of the right-hand 

 basidium. The drop of water 

 which the discharged spore has 

 carried away has run between the 

 two spores. Magnification, 660. 



