15 



surface of the lamellae. These form : — 



(3) The Hymenium. Many of these club-shaped 

 sacs remain sterile. These are caRed Para- 

 2)hyses^ others produce the spores, and these 

 are called Basidia. 



Each basidium produces in this species only two, 

 in other Basidiomycetes usually four spores. 



The basidium puts out first of all as many slender 

 branches as there are spores to be formed. These 

 branches are the Sterigmata. Each sterigma swells 

 at the end : the little swelling is cut off by a wall, 

 and becomes a spore. In this species the spore 

 remains smooth. "When ripe it falls off from its 

 sterigma. The spore is ellipsoidal in shape, and is 

 known as a Basidiospore. 



The wall of each spore is thick in proportion to its 

 size, it contains abundant protoplasm, many small 

 nuclei and vacuoles even before it is septated from 

 the sterigma. 



When germinating it produces several tubes, which 

 give rise to the mycelium, this in its turn produces 

 the pear-shaped solid masses of hyphse which 

 ultimately become the fruits. A development of 

 sexual organs, by means of which the formation of 

 the fruit could take place, has not yet been 

 observed. 



