336 



RESEARCHES ON FUNGI 



of elements have been counted as wholes. The letters x and y in 

 connection with the paraphyses indicate paraphyses of uncertain 

 number which were not clearly perceived owing to optical difficulties. 

 However, a comparison of the areas A and B with the area C 

 suggests that x and y are each equal to about 24. 



The paraphyses, i.e. the permanently sterile elements, are just 

 as distinct in the hymenium of Stropharia semiglobata as in that of 

 Panaeolus campanulatus. They can be most easily distinguished 



in a piece of exhausted hymenium 

 such as that shown in Fig. 119. 

 Here the tops of the contracted 

 basidia b somewhat overlie the 

 paraphyses p. A pleurocystidium 

 is shown at c, and waste spores at 

 w. A more complete analysis of 

 the exhausted hymenium is given 

 in Fig. 120, where the basidia and 

 paraphyses (from different areas) 

 have been drawn separately. At A 

 there are shown the basidia with- 



FIG. 119. Stropharia semiglobata. f f ^ narar>Viv!psi and at "R thp 



Exhausted hymenium in surface apliyses, 



view, b, collapsed basidia, each paraphyses without the basidia. The 



with four sterigmatic stumps ; . . 



p, paraphyses ; c, a cystidium ; drawing C IS Similar to B except for 



S - the fact that it includes four pleuro- 

 cystidia, whereas none of these ele- 



ments are present in B. By comparing A with B and C, which all 

 represent equal areas of the hymenium, one may observe that the 

 paraphyses are somewhat more numerous than the basidia and, 

 further, that the paraphyses tend to be connected into chains so 

 that they avoid isolation. On the other hand, individual basidia 

 often stand apart from their neighbours, from which they are 

 separated by paraphyses. 



Two transverse sections through the hymenium and sub- 

 hymenium of Stropharia semiglobata are represented in Fig. 121. 

 The upper one, A, shows the hymenium in the early part of the 

 spore-discharge period, i.e. at a stage about equivalent to that 

 indicated in the surface view represented in Fig. 118, A ; while the 



