TABLE OF CONTENTS 



PAGE 



Preface vii 



PART I 



An Account of the Production, Liberation, and Dispersion of the 

 Spokes of Hymenomycetes treated Botanically and 



Physically 



Introduction 3 



CHAPTER I 



The Hymenium — Basidia and Paraphyses — Nuclear phenomena — The Colour 

 of Spores — Two-spored Basidia in Cultivated Varieties of Psalliota cani- 

 pestris — Occasional Sterility of Coprinus Fruit-bodies — Cystidia — Funj^us 

 Gnats, Springtails, and Mites — Position of the Hymenium — Comparison 

 of the Basidium with the Ascus — The Efiect of Sunli<,'ht upon Spores . 6 



CHAPTER II 



The Extent of the Hymenium — Principles underlying the Arrangement of 



Gills and Hy menial Tubes — The Margin of Safety — The genus Fomes , 27 



CHAPTER III 



The Functions of the Stipe and Flesh of the Pileus — ^The Gill-chamber . 39 



CHAPTER IV 



Adjustments of Fruit-bodies in the Interests of Spore-liberation — Lentinus 

 lepideu-% Psalliota campestri-<, Polyporus squamnsua, Coprinus plicatilis, 

 Coprinus niveus, and Coprinus plicatiloides — Reactions of Fruit-bodies to 

 Light and Gravity — The Problem of Pileus Eccentricity — Gfjotropic 

 Swinging — Rudimentary Fruit-bodies ....... 47 



CHAPTER V 



Spore-deposits — The Number of Spores ........ 79 



CHAPTER VI 



Macroscopic Observations on thi Fall of Spores of Polyporus squamosns . . 89 



