NOLANEA PASCUA 



III 



protective in function, and the supposed analogy with raphides is 

 not supported by experiment. 



Nolanea pascua. — This species commonly comes up on lawns 

 and in grassy fields in England and, like Pluteus cervinus, has pink 

 spores. Its gills conform in general shape and orientation to 

 the rule for the Aequi- 

 hymeniiferae, i.e. the gills 

 are wedge-shaped in 

 cross-section and look 

 vertically downwards to 

 the earth. However, a 

 gill is often locally irregu- 

 lar in that here and there, 

 particularly in the upper 

 half, it bulges outwards. 

 Each such bulge may 

 prevent the free escape of 

 spores discharged above 

 it by offering mechanical 

 hindrance to their fall. 

 The spores then collect 

 on the upper side of such 

 a bulge, with the result 

 that the gill becomes 

 powdered locally. Almost 

 every fruit-body of 

 Nolanea ])ascua comes to 

 have some of its gills 

 powdered in this way. 



The spores, when mature, remotely resemble crystals, for they 

 have several more or less flattened sides and straight edges. Their 

 growth was observed by the method described in Volume II. ^ 

 Each takes about 2 • 5 hours to attain full size, after which there is 

 an interval of about 1 -75 hours before discharge takes place. The 

 total amount of time required for the development and discharge 

 of a single spore is therefore about 4 • 25 hours. 



^ Researches on Fungi, voJ. ii, 1922, pp. 43-45. 



Fig. 52. — Nolanea pascua. Surface view of 

 hymenium in the middle of the spore- 

 discharge period, showing spores : a, a 

 basidium which has just shot away two of 

 its spores ; b and c, nearly ripe spores ; d 

 and e, spores whicli have just attained full 

 size ; /, half-grown spores ; g, very rudi- 

 mentary spores ; h, ends of sterigmata about 

 to develop spores ; i, a basidium with three 

 spores only ; j, two four-spored basidia, 

 the upper with three well-grown spores and 

 one aborted, the lower with one well-grown 

 and three aborted (one very small). 

 Magnification, 330. 



