84 RESEARCHES ON FUNGI 



be considered as being confined, or almost confined, to the Leuco- 

 sporae and the Rhodosporae. It must be noted, however, that 

 not all the Leucosporae are included in this Sub-tj^e ; for, as we 

 have seen,i Lepiota cepaestipes belongs to the Psathjrrella Sub-type 

 and Lepiota procera has a hy menial organisation which, with the 

 exception of the pigment in the spore-walls, is very similar to that 

 of the Panaeolus Sub- type. 



Characters of the Armillaria Sub-type. — The Armillaria 

 Sub-type of fruit-body possesses all the general characters already 

 described for the Aequi-hymeniiferous Type : the gills are wedge- 

 shaped in cross-section and positively geotropic, the hymenium looks 

 downwards to the earth, and every part of the hymenium produces 

 and liberates spores during the whole period of spore-discharge. 



The special characters of the Armillaria Sub-type are as follows : 



(1) The whole structure of the fruit-body is relatively stout and 

 suited to a persistence of the opened pileus for several days. In this 

 respect, therefore, the Armillaria Sub- type resembles the Panaeolus 

 Sub-type, but differs from the Psathyrella and the Bolbitius Sub- 

 types. The pileus-flesh is often massive, the stipe mechanically 

 resistant, and the gUls firm. 



(2) The spore- discharge period is several days in length and 

 therefore relatively long. Here again, we have a contrast with the 

 Psathyrella and Bolbitius Sub-types where, as we have seen, the 

 spore-discharge period lasts for not more than about twenty-four 

 hours. The actual number of days during which spores are dis- 

 charged from the fruit-bodies of the characteristic species mentioned 

 in the preceding Section has not been accurately measured. How- 

 ever, field mycologists well know that the fruit-bodies in question 

 do not begin to decay until several days after they have opened. 

 Now my own observations show that the spore- discharge period 

 is continuous from its beginning, which is co-incident with the 

 expansion of the pileus, to its end and that, as a rule, a fruit-body 

 collapses a few hours after its last spores have been shed. The 

 obvious inference is that persistent fruit-bodies have long spore- 

 discharge periods. For Armillaria mellea I observed that spores 

 were discharged from some fruit-bodies growing on a stump in the 



^ Vide Chapter I. 



