1 62 



RESEARCHES ON FUNGI 



{cf. Fig. 64), and (3) the wet edge of a gill where spore-discharge and 

 autodigestion were in progress {cf. Fig. 64). The drops were all 



L 



Fig. 64. — Coprinus comatus. Photograph of the under side 

 of a large pileus at a stage when the pileus was cam- 

 panulate in form and had been shedding spores for some 

 hours. In the centre : the stipe, hollow, and containing 

 a characteristic central white strand. Around the stipe : 

 the gill-fiange sheath made up of pinkish gill-flanges in 

 contact with one another. In the outer black zone : 

 the wet autodigesting gill-edges separated by inter- 

 lamellar spaces through which the discharged spores 

 were escaping in vast numbers. Two drops of fluid 

 produced by autodigestion are hanging from the ex- 

 hausted rim of the pileus. Similar drops on other parts 

 of the rim were removed with blotting-paper before the 

 photograph was taken. Photographed for the author by 

 Philip Grafton at Birmingham, England. Natural size. 



absorbed very rapidly. Small drops of red ink set with a pen on 

 the gill-flange sheath were absorbed into the interior of the gills in 

 7 seconds. A large drop of water, 5 mm. wide, was absorbed by 

 the sheath in 2*5 minutes and a small drop, 1'5 mm. wide, in 16 

 seconds. A drop of red ink was absorbed by the autodigesting 

 edge of a gill within a fraction of a minute and colour-changes 



