3o8 RESEARCHES ON FUNGI 



balls kept moist in the laboratory. Sometimes occurring on 

 germinating seeds of Mangold, Beet, and Sainfoin (Fig. 141, D, 

 p. 320). Comparison by means of pure cultures showed that the 

 form of C. lagopus occurring at Birmingham, England, is identical 

 with the form occurring at Winnipeg, Canada. 



Known by the prominent white down covering the unexpanded 

 pileus and breaking up into thin fugacious tufts or scales, the narrow 

 lanceolate gills autodigesting strongly at their edges, the large black 

 cylindric-oval smooth spores, the cystidia not connecting the gills 

 during spore-discharge, the tomentose stipe-base, the watery-white 

 very fragile stipe-shaft bearing loose white fibrillae, the absence of 

 a well-marked pseudorhiza, great variability in size, and by its 

 frequent appearance on isolated horse-dung balls. 



Distinguished : (1) from Coprinus macrorhizus by the absence 

 of a well-marked pseudorhiza, the narrower gills and more pointed 

 greyer apex of the pileus, the cystidia not bridging the interlamellar 

 spaces during spore-discharge, and by frequently coming up on 

 isolated dung-balls ; (2) from C. echinosporus by having spores 

 which are smooth instead of verrucose, rounded at the apex instead 

 of truncate, and relatively much larger ; (3) from a species which 

 may be called C. flavo-lanatus by having white instead of yellowish- 

 white down on the pileus, by the down-cells being unbranched and 

 much thicker, and by having stouter cystidia ; and (4) from an- 

 other closely allied species which may be called C. brevi-lanatus by 

 having longer and more patent down on the pileus just before ex- 

 pansion, and by the down-cells being much thicker.^ 



Remarks on the Fruit-body Illustrations. — As already indi- 

 cated, the fruit-bodies of Coprinus lagopus vary greatly in size and 

 general appearance. For this reason, and to facilitate identification 

 in the future, the species is illustrated in this Chapter by a number 

 of photographs and drawings. A few remarks will now be made 

 concerning the fruit-bodies shown in the illustrations and the con- 

 ditions under which they developed. 



^ All the four species mentioned in this paragraph have been grown in pure 

 cultures in the laboratory and have been carefully studied with the microscope. 

 C. flavo-lanatus and C. brevi-lanatus at present are nomina nuda, but I hope to 

 describe them at some future time. 



