COPRINUS MICACEUS 333 



such large numbers, this series of events resembling that already 

 described for Psathyrella disseminata} Sometimes I have been able 

 to find short ozonium-like strands of an orange colour at the very 

 base of the stipe, but their presence does not appear to be constant 

 nor could I trace them to their organic substratum. 



A large Elm ( Ulmus campestris) with a trunk about four feet in 

 diameter was cut down near Birmingham, England. About five 

 years afterwards I visited the spot and found that Coprinus micaceus 

 was coming up about and upon the stump. A number of fruit- 

 bodies were pushing their way out between the loosened bark and 

 the wood. On removmg the bark, I found that the fruit-bodies 

 were arising not from the wood but from the bark, and that the 

 mycelium was feeding upon the thick layer of secondary phloem. 

 Pieces of the bark were taken home and put in a closed tin box. 

 After some days it was found that the mycelium had grown out 

 from the bark in the form of orange-yellow strands, some of which 

 projected into the air. 2 These observations go to show that the 

 mycehum of Coprinus micaceus is able to flourish upon secondary 

 phloem. Whether or not it can attack secondary wood remains to 

 be investigated. It is possible that some saprophytic Agaricineae 

 are specialised for destroying wood-masses and others for de- 

 stroying bark, and that Coprinus micaceus belongs to the latter 



group. 



Coprinus micaceus has been successfully cultivated from spores 

 in the laboratory by Levine.^ This observer found that the spores 

 germinate in tap-water after they have been immersed therein for 

 about twenty-four hours. He therefore sowed spores in tap- water 

 and, when they were germinating, transferred them to sterilised 

 culture media. The following media were employed : {a) soil in 

 which the plants had been growing, (6) soil mixed with horse 

 dung, (c) horse dung, {d) pieces of wood taken from the same soil, 

 (e) beef agar, (/) carrot, {g) beans, Qi) beet leaves, {i) string beans, 

 {j) horse-dung agar, and [k] corn-meal agar. Whenever the medium 



1 Vide Chap, ii, pp. 30-36. 



2 The orange-yellow strands of hyphae were reminiscent of the ozonium of 



Coprinus domesticus. 



3 Michael Levine, " The Origin and Development of the Lamellae of Coprinus 

 micaceus," American Journal of Botany, vol. i, 1914, p. 347. 



