256 RESEARCHES ON FUNGI 



enzymes exist. However, since then, Weir/ as already mentioned,- 

 has carried out a research upon this question with positive results. 

 According to him the expressed juice of the Coprinus which he used 

 contains an enzyme which can act on the cell-walls and cause them 

 to disappear. My use of the term autodigestion to replace the term 

 deliquescence has therefore been justified. 



(e) The zone of the 'products of autodigestion. This zone, which 

 is situated along the gill-edge (zone e in Figs. 104 and 105, pp. 242 

 and 249), varies somewhat in width. For the gill represented in 

 Figs. 104 and 105 it is about 0-06 mm. wide. Above, it passes into 

 the zone of autodigestion. Along its upper edge it contains the 

 granular remains of what were the free ends of the basidia, but lower 

 down all traces of definite elements disappear. Along its lower 

 edge, at the extreme base of the gill, are always a considerable 

 number of spores which for one reason or other have not been dis- 

 charged properly. These waste spores are unable to escape from 

 the liquid film which encloses them and are destined to fall to the 

 ground with the pileus when the whole fruit-body collapses. The 

 zone of the products of autodigestion, like all the other zones, 

 gradually ascends the gill upon which it is situated, passing from 

 the bottom to the top. Throughout the spore-discharge period, 

 its upper edge remains within about • 25 mm. of the lower edge of 

 the zone of spore-discharge. The liquid, of which the zone is 

 chiefly composed, has been derived from the cells of the hymenium, 

 subhymenium, and trama, which have been broken down in the 

 zone of autodigestion. Doubtless, under natural conditions, a 

 large part of this liquid disappears owing to evaporation, while 

 some of it is sucked along the trama by capillary attraction.^ In 

 any case it does not accumulate in such a quantity as to swell out 

 the edge of the gill and form an obstacle to the fall of the spores 

 which are shot out from the zone of spore-discharge. 



Since the zone of the products of autodigestion continually 

 moves upwards, it gradually comes to envelop all the spores which 

 have not been shot away properly. The spores at m, n, and *, in 



^ J. R. Weir, " Untersuchungen uber die Gattung Coprinus," Flora, Bd. 103, 

 1911, p. 271. 



2 P. 231. =^ CJ. pp. 161-163. 



