COPRINUS ATRAMENTARIUS 



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of C. sterquilinus and C. comatus but also absolutely broader, and 

 (2) that the ratio of gill-breadth to gill-thickness for C. atramentarius 



Fig. 113. — Coprinus atramentarius. Vertical section through a fruit-body of the 

 maximum size. Spores are ripening on the gills from below upwards and are 

 being discliarged from the gill-edges. The gills are extraordinarily broad 

 (2-5 cm.), extremely thin, and closely packed; but the interlamellar spaces 

 are maintained by the cystidia. The spores are shown being carried away 

 by slight air-movement. The number escaping from this fruit-body in all 

 probability exceeded a million a minute. Fruit-body sent to the author by 

 H. T. Giissow from Ottawa. Natural size. 



is about three times as great as the ratio for C. sterquilinus or 

 C. comatus. As a trial proved, an isolated gill of C. atramentarius 

 can be flexed by mechanical means much more easily than an 



