68 



RESEARCHES ON FUNGI 



almost equally efficient, with the advantage, if any, lying with the 



Coprinus. 



The fruit-hody in the Agaricineae is, as already often stated, 



an organ whose one great function is the production and liberation 



of spores. The Coprinus Type and the Non-Coprinus Type of 



fruit-body resemble two 

 variations on a single 

 musical theme. Each 

 performs its function in 

 its own way ; and so 

 successful are both 

 modes of operation 

 that, under natural con- 

 ditions, Coprini and 

 Non-Coprini often exist 

 side by side on the 

 same substratum, and 

 there is no reason to 



Fig. 42. — Coprinus sterqui- 

 linus. A fruit-body in a 

 very late stage of develop- 

 ment, growing on sterilised 

 horse dung in a glass dish. 

 The pileus has become 

 torn into rags, some of 

 which are weighed down 

 by dark drops — the liquid 

 products of the autodiges- 

 tion of the gills. Most of 

 the spores have been shot 

 away into the air, and a 

 dark spore-deposit can be 

 seen on the lower part of 

 the stipe and on the top 

 of the dung. Much of the 

 liquid products of auto- 

 digestion has evaporated 

 from the gill-edges. When 

 a fruit-body, about to 

 expand and shed its spores, 

 is cut down and placed in 

 an unnatural position in a 

 small closed chamber, the 

 liquid products of auto- 

 digestion and the black 

 spores become mixed, thus 

 forming an inky fluid. 

 Reduced to two-thirds the 

 natural size. 



