262 



RESEARCHES ON FUNGI 



no further service, they undergo self-destruction. Correlated with 

 the cystidial arrangement for separating the gills are the following 

 facts : (1) the gills are very thin, (2) the gills are very broad, (3) the 

 gills do not possess flanges, (4) the gills are set close to one another 

 near the pileus-flesh, (5) the gills do not split down their median 



Fig. 108. — Coprinus atramcutarius. Group of medium-sized unexpanded 

 fruit-bodies coming up on soil near the stump of a dead tree. Photo- 

 graplied at Winnipeg. Natural size. 



planes from above downwards, and (6) during spore- discharge 

 the interlamellar spaces are very narrow. 



In a special paper, published in 1910, I described the manner 

 in which Coprinus atramentarius produces and liberates its spores, 

 and I pointed out the role played by the cystidia in the working 

 of the fruit-body mechanism. ^ A further study of C. atramentarius, 



1 A. H. R. Buller, " The Function and Fate of the Cystidia of Coprinus atra- 

 mentarius, together with some General Remarks on Coprinus Fruit-bodies," Annals 

 oj Botany, vol. xxiv, 1910, pp. 613-629. 



