1 8 RESEARCHES OX FUNGI 



cystidia (iiK'tiiloiiLs), wliicli arc very iniincivms, prouiincnt, and 

 encrusted Avith calcinni oxalate, could luit possibly act as spacing 

 agents; for here the hynieniuni is smooth. Possibly, in this genus, 

 they serve to protect the fruit-bodies from slugs or other harmful 

 animal parasites. The same interpretation might apply to the 

 rigid coloured seta^ of Hymenochtete, but does not seem suitable 

 for those of some species of the woody genus Fomes, ('jj. F. nyjrlcan.s 

 and F. salicinus. 



Do Bary's ' investigation led him to the conclusion that in 

 Lactarins deliriosus the cystidia arise from ordinary hyphic of 

 the tranui, but according to Massee^ the cystidia of Russula and 

 Lactarius are direct terminations of the laticiferous system. Massee's 

 view is supported by the work of Biffen,^ who iound that in 

 Colhfhia vdutipes the cystidia form the hy menial endings of the 

 conducting hypha'. In these cases, doubtless, the cell contents 

 are of importance, although exactly in what way still remains to 

 be explained. In Russula, at least, they do not seem to render 

 the gills unpalatable to slugs, since these anin)als are particularly 

 fond of the members of this genus, and often devastate the fruit- 

 bodies in a wood to such an extent that scarcely a single specimen 

 is left vmdamaged. 



Earlier writers, Corda and others, stated that the cystidia of 

 the fleshy fungi discharge their contents through their apices in 

 the form of drops, but de Bary* and Brefeld could never satisfy 

 themselves that this is done spontaneously. However, Massee and 

 Worthington Smith have both upheld the older view. According 

 to Massee,^ cystidia, when mature, contain glycogen which is emitted 

 through the nipple-like openings at their apices, and poured over the 

 surrounding hymeniuiii, where it serves as food for the developing 

 spores. Smith ^ has tigured the cystidia of Cdjirinus (itramentariufi, 

 Goinp1dd'iu.s vincotius, and Aycricus radicatas as hirgc, Hask-like 



^ De Bary, Comparative Morph. and Biol, uf Fnufii, Enj,disli translation, 1887, 

 p. 3U4. 



* G. Massee, Journ. Hoy. Mirr. Sor.^ 1887, p 205. 



^ R. H. Biffeii, J<,„rn. limi. Soc, vol. :U, 1898, p. 147. 

 ' De Bary, lor. rit. ^ (i. Massee, lor. cit. 



* \V. Smith, Orrvillm, vol. x., 18)Sl, p. 77; also (Junhiiirx' Chronicle, Sept. 17, 

 1881, p. 3G7. 



