170 RESEARCHES ON FUNGI 



Stropharia epimyces, this fungus conceivably may have become a 

 parasite on the common ancestor of both Coprinus comatus and 

 C. atramentarius far back in the evolutionary period.^ 



The Production of Fruit-bodies in the Laboratory. — When spores 

 of Coprinus sterquilinus, C. riiveus, C. lagopus, C. stercorarius, or 

 C. narcoticus are sown upon sterilised horse-dung balls set closely 

 in a crystallising dish which is 10 inches in diameter, covered by a 

 glass plate, and kept on a laboratory table at room temperature, 

 the spores soon germinate, the mycelium grows vigorously, and 

 fruit-bodies are developed in from two to five weeks ; and similar 

 results can be obtained with Panaeolus campanulafus, Anellaria 

 separata, Stropharia semiglobata, and several other coprophilous 

 Hymenomycetes. Coprinus sterquilinus invariably fruits about 

 a month after the sowing of the spores. Now, since the fruit- 

 bodies of Coprinus comatus are very similar in structure to those 

 of C. sterquilinus, it seemed not unlikely that C. comatus would 

 fruit in crystallising-dish cultures. I therefore sowed the spores of 

 C. comatus on dung in the usual way. The spores germinated, the 

 mycelium grew vigorously and spread throughout the substratum, 

 and clamp-connections appeared upon the hyphae ; but, although 

 the mycelium was kept moist and remained living for upwards of 

 a year, it never produced any fruit-bodies whatever. This experi- 

 ment was repeated a second time with similar results. It was 

 evident that I had failed to provide the mycelium with the right 

 conditions for sporophore production. 



Dr. Roland Thaxter has informed me that he once sowed spores 

 of Coprinus comatus on sterilised dung with a result similar to my 

 own : the mycelium grew well but never fruited ; and, as we shall 

 see. Miss Mounce could never obtain the fruit-bodies of this fungus 

 from ordinary dung cultures. However, Brefeld,^ in a couple of 

 lines in his Untersuchungen, makes the statement that the large fruit- 

 bodies of Coprinus comatus and C. atramentarius are very easily 

 raised in dung cultures ; but he gives no particulars of his culture 

 methods or of the time elapsing between the sowing of the spores 



For some other remarks on Stropharia epimyces, vide infra, chap. xiii. 

 - O. Brefeld, U titer suchiingen iiber Pilze, Heft VIII, 1880, Autobasidiomy- 

 ceten, p. 39. 



