CHAPTER X 



THE LAGOPUS SUB-TYPE ILLUSTRATED BY 

 COPRINUS LAGOPUS 



Characters of the Lagopus Sub-type — Reprecentative Species — Coprinns lagoptis 

 and AIHed Species — Description of Coprinus lagopus — Remarks on the Fruit- 

 tody Illustrations — The Scales on the Pileus — The Structure of the Gills— 

 Autodigestion and the Liberation of the Spores 



Characters of the Lagopus Sub-type. — The Lagopus Sub-type of 

 fruit-body possesses all the essential characters already described 

 for the Inaequi-hymeniiferous or Coprinus Type : (1) the gills are 

 very thin, (2) the gills are parallel-sided, (3) the gills are not posi- 

 tively geotropic, (4) usually the hymenium on one side of a gill at 

 maturity looks slightly downwards and that on the other side 

 slightly upwards, (5) the spores ripen in succession from below 

 upwards on each gill, (6) the spores are discharged in succession 

 from below upv/ards on each gill, and (7) autodigestion proceeds 

 from below upwards on each gill and removes those parts of the 

 gills which have become spore-free and which, if they continued in 

 existence, would become mechanical hindrances to the fall of the 

 remaining spores. 



The special characters of the Lagopus Sub-type which enable 

 one to differentiate it from the other Coprinus Sub- types are as 

 follows : 



(1) The gills are parallel-sided and without conspicuous flanges. 

 They therefore differ from those of the Comatus Sub-type which 

 are subparallel-sided and flanged. 



(2) Cystidia are present in considerable numbers on the face of 

 the gills. In this we have a marked contrast with the Comatus Sub- 

 type in which the hymenium consists of basidia and paraphyses only. 



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