4 RESEARCHES ON FUNGI 



they separate adjacent basidia and thereby prevent the mutual 

 jostUng of the spores. We have similar large paraphyses forming a 

 hymenial groundwork in the Bolbitius Sub-type and in the Inaequi- 

 hymeniiferae where the fruit-bodies are also very ephemeral ; but 

 in the Panaeolus, the Armillaria, and the Inocybe Sub-types the 

 paraphyses are more or less isolated from one another and do not 

 form a continuous and well-marked system. 



The name Psathyrella Sub-type has been chosen in preference 

 to Lepiota cepaestipes Sub-type, firstly, because Psathyrella dis- 

 semiTiata, on which it is partly based, is so widely distributed and 

 well-known, and, secondly, because the fruit-body mechanism 

 of Lepiota cepaestipes is not characteristic for all the species of 

 Lepiota, 



Concerning the well-known fruit-bodies of Lepiota procera some- 

 thing will be said at the end of this Chapter. It will therefore 

 be sufficient here to state that the organisation of the hymenium 

 of L. procera is entirely different from that of L. cepaestipes and 

 resembles rather that of the Panaeolus Sub -type than that of the 

 Psathyrella Sub-type. 



Lepiota cepaestipes and Psathyrella disseminata are not neces- 

 sarily closely related, notwithstanding that the arrangements for 

 procuring the production and liberation of their spores are almost 

 identical. Indeed, I am of opinion that the resemblance in their 

 fruit-body mechanism is due rather to evolutionary convergence 

 than to direct descent. 



The fruit-bodies of Lepiota cepaestipes and Psathyrella dissemi- 

 nata, which illustrate the Psathyrella Sub-type, will be described 

 in detail in this Chapter and the next. Since the available illus- 

 trations happen to be somewhat more numerous for the Lepiota 

 than for the Psathyrella, the first-named species will be described 

 first. 



Lepiota cepaestipes. General Description. — The fruit-bodies 

 upon which my observations were made were found in the forcing 

 chamber of a hot-house at Birmingham, England. They were 

 coming up in small groups on the top of a thin layer of cinders, which 

 contained a certain amount of peat and Sphagnum-moss. Below the 

 cinders was some rotting wood which in all probability provided 



