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RESEARCHES ON FUNGI 



looks slightly upwards and the other slightly downwards. I have 

 convinced myself that (5) the spores ripen in succession from below 

 upwards on each gill and that (6) the spores are discharged in suc- 

 cession from below upwards on each gill ; but microscopical as well 

 as macroscopical examination shows that autodigestion does not 



Fig. 56. — Coprinus plicatilis. Fruit-bodies coming up amid grass under trees. The 

 one on the right is half expanded and the sulcations above its gills are opening 

 out. The one on the left with the depressed disc is fully expanded and is 

 shedding spores. Photographed by Miss E. M. Wakefield and the author in 

 Queen's Cottage Grounds, Kew. Natural size. 



proceed from below upwards on each gill. Massee truly described 

 the gills as being dry and non-deliquescent. 



I regard Coprinus plicatilis as a Coprinus which has lost one of 

 its chief Coprinus characters, namely, autodigestion ; but I do not 

 hesitate to retain the fungus in the genus Coprinus, because with 

 this exception all the characters are coprinoid. In no other genus 

 than Coprinus do the spores ripen and become discharged from 

 below upwards on the gills. 



The basidia are trimorphic as a rule, but here and there on a 

 gill they may be dimorphic. The long and short basidia, together 



