36 RESEARCHES ON FUNGI 



Coprinus plicatilis. — Coprinus plicatilis (Figs. 21 and 22, also 

 Vol. Ill, Fig. 56, p. 138) is a small species of Coprinus, the fruit- 

 bodies of which come up in a solitary manner on the ground among 

 grass, etc., in many parts of the world. Its delicate parasol-like 

 sporophores, which display themselves during damp weather in 

 the summer and autumn, are well known to field-mycologists in 

 England and other parts of Europe. The specific name plicatilis 

 refers to the radial plications which mark the expanded pileus when 

 seen from above. Owing to the depression of the disc at maturity 

 and the very regular plications above the gills, a fully expanded 

 pileus, when seen from above, is somewhat like a tiny wheel. 



Geographical Distribution. — The occurrence of Coprinus plicatilis 

 has been reported ^ : in Russia, Finland, Hungary, Italy, Germany, 

 Denmark, Holland, Belgium, France, and Britain ; in Japan, India, 

 and Ceylon ; in the United States and Behring Strait ; in New 

 Zealand, and in Queensland, Australia ; so that this species evidently 

 has a very wide geographical distribution. I am familiar with the 

 fungus as it grows in England ; Dr. Bisby and I ^ have frequently 

 met with it on the ground in woods near Winnipeg ; and I have 

 observed it in a grassy place at Kenora on the Lake of the Woods 

 in central Canada. 



Relations with its Substratum. — On a lawn in my father's 

 garden at King's Heath, England, I saw fruit-bodies coming up 

 every summer and autumn for about ten years in succession. A 

 photograph of some of these fruit-bodies is reproduced in Fig. 22. 

 The lawn in question was kept well mown and did not receive any 

 manure ; nor were there any roots of trees or sticks in the turf. 

 Yet, during damp weather, a few fruit-bodies came up in different 

 places on the lawn day after day. It seems clear, therefore, that 

 the mycelium must have been growing upon the dead roots or 

 rhizomes of grasses or upon corresponding structures of other herbs 

 present in the turf along with the grass. I tried to trace the 

 mycelium from the base of the stipe into some particular piece of 



1 G. Massee, " A Revision of the genus Coprinus," Ann. of BoL, vol. x, 1896, 

 p. 177. 



2 G. R. Bisby, A. H. R. Buller, and J. Dearness, The Fungi of Manitoba, London, 



1929, p. 117. 



