250 RESEARCHES ON FUNGI 



did not ensue. The drop then slowly evaporated. It was observed 

 that spores which lose their drops by evaporation in this way are 

 never shot off their sterigmata, but are eventually dragged down on 

 to the hymenium to which they remain adherent.^ 



Sometimes in the zone of spore-discharge there could be observed 

 certain abnormal basidia. Some of them possessed four undersized 

 spores (Fig. 104, *, p. 242), some three spores only, some imperfectly 

 pigmented spores, and some entirely colourless spores. Most of 

 the spores of these basidia failed to be discharged. Both normal- 

 looking and abnormal-looking spores which fail to be discharged are 



A B C D E F 



«# •ocf ^# f$ M M 



mm €m #% #S M w 



Fig. 106. — Coprinus sterquilinus. Abnormal excretion of water-drops. 

 A, four spores of a basidium seen from above. The water-drops excreted 

 from the necks of the sterigmata are protruding towards the axis of 

 the basidium. B, the drops have attained full normal size (the spores 

 at this stage are usually discharged). C, the drops have grown and 

 have stepped up on to the spores. D, the drops are still growing and 

 almost touch one another. E, the drops have fused and the spores 

 have been dragged together by surface tension. F, the large drop has 

 evaporated, the basidium has collapsed, and the spores have been dragged 

 to the surface of the hymenium. The spores are thus wasted, for they 

 do not escape into the air. Magnification, 377. 



eventually dragged down to the general level of the hymenium and 

 so become waste spores. A dense black line of these waste spores 

 is always to be found along the gill-edge of every gill which is under- 

 going autodigestion (Figs. 101, 104, 105, pp. 237, 242, 249). The 

 exact manner in which it is formed will be explained more fully a 

 little later, and here it is only necessary to remark that the presence 

 of black spore-lines at the extreme edges of spore-discharging gills 

 not only of Coprinus sterquilinus, but also of Coprini generally, is 

 clear evidence that the mechanism for the production and libera- 

 tion of the spores in the Inaequi-hymeniiferae is by no means 



always perfect. 



The zones of spore-discharge are situated in planes which are 

 almost vertical and their horizontal basidia point forward into 



1 For another illustration showing abnormal drop-excretion in Coprinus ster- 

 quilinus, vide infra, Part II, chap, i, Fig. 205. 



