COPRINUS LAGOPUS 



307 



I 



bridging an interlamellar space, with both ends firmly attached to 

 the gills and held by clasping, often somewhat enlarged paraphyses ; 

 during the expansion of the 

 pileus each cystidium break- 

 ing away at its apex from 

 one gill and then projecting 

 from the other gill like a peg. 



Basidia dimorphic, quad- 

 risporous ; bodies of long 

 basidia about 40 X 8-10 /a. 

 of short basidia about 23 x 

 8-10 /i. ; sterigmata short. 



Spores, very black in the 

 mass on white paper, black 

 and opaque when seen singly 

 under the microscope ; elon- 

 gated-oval, round in trans- 

 verse section, lower half 

 slightly thicker than the 

 upper half, about equally 

 rounded at each end ; 

 15-16-5 X 8-9 ^l in large 

 fruit-bodies, slightly smaller 

 in dwarfs ; smooth. 



Common on horse-clung 

 balls in the open, and fre- 

 quently springing up spon- 

 taneously on horse-dung 



Fig. 134. — Coprimis lagopus. A 

 very large fruit-ljody obtained 

 by sowing spores from a very 

 small fruit-body, which origi- 

 nated spontaneously at Winni- 

 peg (cf. Fig. 131 ), on a sterilised 

 horse-dving ball in tlie labora- 

 tory. The pileus, wliich is 

 expanding and beginning, or 

 about to begin, to shed spores, 

 still bears many of the charac- 

 teristic fugacious pilear scales. 

 Natural size. 





