COPRINUS ATRAMENTARIUS 



293 



greater length of the gills. The gills of large fruit-bodies of Coprimts 

 comatus are nearly twice as long as the gills of large specimens of 

 Coprinus atrmneyitarius. 



After comparing the fruit-bodies of Coprinus atramentarius and 

 C. comatus, I am inclined to regard the former as the more perfectly 

 specialised, and this for two reasons : (1) the gills of C. atramentarius 

 are thinner than those of C. comatus and therefore per unit of mass 

 have a larger hymenial surface, and (2) the whole pileus of C. atra- 

 mentarius is more com- 

 pact than that of C. 

 comatus. This superi- 

 ority in comjDactness is 

 due to the fact that the 

 interlamellar spaces in 

 C. atramentarius are re- 

 duced to a minimum and 

 the gills are broad and 

 short instead of being 

 relatively narrow and 

 long. The reduction 

 of the width of the inter- 

 lamellar spaces and the 



broadening of the gills Fig. \25.— Coprinus narcoticus in pure culture on 



liorse dung. The pilei are covered witli a 

 are correlated with the greyisli-white floccose meal. Natural size. 



presence of cystidia. 



The Pileus-flesh. — When one considers the structure of a large 

 fruit-body of Coprinus atrameiitarius, e.g. that shown in section in 

 Fig. 118, A (p. 278), the small amount of pileus-flesh relatively to 

 the great size and number of the gills is very noticeable. A non- 

 Coprinus fruit-body such as that of Pluteus cervinus (Fig. 47, p. 103), 

 which possesses almost equally deep gills, has a very much greater 

 amount of flesh. The amounts of flesh in the Coprinus and the 

 non-Coprinus types are correlated with the difl'erent mechanisms 

 employed for securing the successful production and liberation of 

 the spores. The Coprinus mechanism is such that the flesh can 

 be reduced to a minimum. This point, however, wfll be elaborated 

 in more detail in the next Volume. 



