THE COLOUR OF SPORES 13 



In a classification purely on the colour basis, we are obliged to place 

 together such diverse black-spored genera as Coprinus, Anthraco- 

 phylluni, and Gomphidius. Coprinus is a highly specialised genus, 

 the fruit-bodies of which are fragile and often " deliquescent." On 

 the other hand, the fruit-bodies of Anthracophyllum are tough and 

 possess leathery or horny gills.^ This genus is evidently much more 

 closely related to the white-spored Xerotus, Lentinus, and Marasmius 

 than to Coprinus. Gomphidius, with its fleshy fruit-bodies and 

 thick, fleshy, non-deliquescent gills, seems to be more closely 

 related to the white-spored Hygrophorus than to either Coprinus 

 or Anthracophyllum. This example will serve to show that 

 spore colour by itself is not a safe guide in deciding generic 

 relationships. 



During the evolution of the Hymenomycetes there must have 

 been an evolution of spore colour, and it would certainly be very 

 interesting if some law of progressive colouration could be dis- 

 covered. It seems to me that a fairly good case has been made 

 out for the view that, in flowers in general, yellow is a more primi- 

 tive colour than red, and red more primitive than blue ; ^ but no 

 attempt to work out the phylogeny of the colour of spores has 

 yet been made. Massee came to the conclusion that the genus 

 Coprinus is the remnant of a primitive group from which have 

 descended the entire group of the Agaricincce,^ and he then made 

 the deduction that since Coprinus spores are black, blackness in 

 spore colour is a primitive feature. According to this view, the 

 species of Agaricinete with yellow, red, brown, purple, and white 

 spores have descended from black-spored ancestors. In Chapter XIX. 

 I shall bring forward Avhat I believe to be strong reasons for dis- 

 senting from Massee's view as to the ancestral position of the 

 Coprini. If, as I hold, the genus Coprinus has been derived from 

 fungi having radially symmetrical, stiped, non-deliquescent fruit- 

 bodies, with the Mushroom type of spore-liberation, then Massee's 



^ P. Hennings in Engler u. Prantl, Die nut. PJianzenfaviilien, Teil I., Abt. \**, 

 p. 222. 



2 (Jrant Allen, The Colours of Flovers (Macmillan & Co.), 1891, pp. 17-60. 



^ G. Massee, "A Revision of the Genus Coprinus," Ann. of Bot., vol. x., 1906, 

 p. 129. 



