THE INAEQUI-HYMENIIFERAE 123 



stipe is suited only for a very brief existence of the fruit-body as 

 a whole. 



(9) The discharge of the spores is, as a rule, very rapidly accom- 

 plished and, as soon as it is ended, the fruit-body collapses. Spore- 

 discharge is completed in some small species, e.g. Coprinus curtus, 

 in the course of about 2 hours ; ^ in larger species, e.g. Coprinus 

 niveus and C. stercorarius, in less than 12 hours ; and in the largest 

 species, e.g. Coprinus comatus and C. atramentarius, in less than 

 48 hours. The length of the spore-discharge period in the Coprini 

 chiefly depends on the vertical distance on the gills up which the 

 zone of spore-discharge has to pass. In very small species it may 

 have to go a distance of only about 1 mm., in medium-sized species 

 it may require to travel several mm. or 1 cm., while in the largest 

 species it may have to move upwards for several cm. From what 

 has just been said it is evident that, on the whole, the Coprinus Type 

 of fruit-body has but a very ephemeral existence. In this respect 

 it resembles the Bolbitius and the Psathyrella Sub-types among the 

 Aequi-hymeniiferae. 



A full discussion of the organisation of the Coprinus Type of 

 fruit-body will be given after the development and structure of 

 particular Coprini have been described in detail. 



Previous Investigations. — It is not improbable that the first 

 reference to Coprini in botanical literature is to be found in the 

 statement by Theophrastus, circa 300 B.C., that the fungi which 

 grow on dung have no bad smell.^ In the year 1727 Vaillant gave 

 a careful description and some excellent copper-plate illustrations 

 of Coprinus atramentarius.^ In the course of his description he 

 states that " the gills are very closely set one against the other, 

 attain a width of six or seven lines, and are of a dirty white colour 

 which gradually turns black as the cap opens " ; and, in one of his 

 illustrations which represents a vertical section through a fruit- 

 body, he depicts the gills in the act of blackening from below 

 upwards ; but he appears to have overlooked the deliquescence of 



^ These Researches, vol. ii, 1922, p. 99. 

 2 Theophrastus, De Odoribus, Frag. IV, 1, §3, ed. Teubner. 



^ S. Vaillant, Botanicon Parisiense, Leide et Amsterdam, 1727, p. 73, PI. XII, 

 figs. 11 and 12. 



