BOLBITIUS AND COPRINUS 79 



to throwing light upon the systematic relationship of the two 

 genera ; and it is repeated here in its original form with but slight 

 additions. 



In treating of the Hymenomycetes several writers have referred 

 to the resemblances which exist between the genera Bolbitius and 

 Coprinus. Thus Massee ^ says : "In the Ochrosporae, the genus 

 Bolbitius agrees with Coprinus in the ephemeral existence of the 

 species, in the soft deliquescent gills, and also in most frequently 

 growing on dung or in places where dung abounds." Referring to 

 Bolbitius the same writer ^ also says : " Very delicate and fragile, 

 remarkable amongst the Ochrosporae for the gills dissolving into 

 mucus, and in this respect analogous with Coprinus among the 

 Melanosporae and Hiatula among the Leucosporae." 



The genus Bolbitius was included by Hennings ^ along with 

 Coprinus in the group Coprineae, which was defined as follows : 

 " Fruit-bodies with soft flesh (weich-fleischig), composed of an 

 even web of hyphae, stipitate. Lamellae of different lengths, 

 alternating in a regular manner. Hymenium composed of isolated 

 protuberant basidia which are separated from one another in a 

 regular manner by paraphyses. Lamellae, and usually also the 

 cap, deliquescent." 



In previous publications, I * have described the fruit-body 

 mechanism of the Coprini and have shown that the so-called deli- 

 quescence is a process of autodigestion which plays an essential 

 part in the liberation of the spores.^ 

 In the genus Coprinus : 



(1) The gills are very thin. 



(2) The gills are parallel-sided or subparallel-sided. 



(3) The gills are not positively geotropic. 



1 G. Massee, British Fungus- Flora, vol. i, 1892. p. 304. 



2 Ibid., vol. ii, 1893, p. 203. 



^ P. Hennings, in Engler and Prantl's Pflanzenfamilien , Teil I, Abteil. I**. 

 1897, p. 204. The translation here given is mine. 



^ A. H. R. Biiller. Researches on Fungi, vol. i, chap, xix ; also Annals of 

 Botany, vol. xxiv. 1910. pp. 613-629; Trans. British Mycological Society, 1911. 

 pp. 348-350 ; " Die Erzeugung unci Befreiung der Sporen bei Coprinus sterqnilinus," 

 Jahrb.f. wiss. Bot., Bd. 56 (Pfeffer-Festschrift). 1915. pp. 299-329. 



^ Also vide infra in the Chapters treating of the Coprinus 8ub-types, particularly 

 Chapter VIII. 



