82 RESEARCHES ON FUNGI 



were then set in a crystallising dish which was covered with a glass 

 plate and placed on a table in the laboratory. After three days the 

 sporangiophores of Piloholus longipes appeared in the culture in 

 large numbers, and at the end of eleven days the fruit-bodies of 

 Coprinus curtus and C. lagopus began to come up ; but no sign of 

 Coprinus sterquilinus ever showed itself ; its characteristic dense 

 white mycelial pellicle, which is always developed upon the surface 

 of the dung-balls prior to the formation of fruit-bodies, was never 

 produced. 



Experiment II. Dung-balls which had been dropped only a few 

 minutes previously were obtained from a stable. A thick three-day- 

 old spore-deposit, collected on white paper, was then moistened 

 with tap- water and rubbed on to the surfaces of the unsteriHsed 

 dung-balls until these appeared quite black from the innumerable 

 spores thus deposited on them. The dung-balls were then placed 

 in closed crystallising dishes as in the preceding experiment. After 

 a few days the usual flora of Moulds and small species of Coprinus 

 made its appearance, but Coprinus sterquilinus entirely failed to 

 develop. The non-development of Coprinus sterquilinus could not 

 be ascribed to any deficiency in spore vitality ; for the spores were 

 only three days old, and it is certain that dried spores of this fungus 

 retain their power of germination unimpaired for a very considerable 

 number of weeks. 



Experiment III. Dung-balls which had been dropped only a 

 few minutes previously were obtained from a stable. The balls 

 were not kept intact as in the previous experiments, but were 

 broken up into fine fragments in a dish. Two thick spore-deposits, 

 which were three days old, were then moistened with tap-water 

 and intimately worked into the unsterilised dung- mass by kneading 

 with the hands. In this way many miUions of spores came to be 

 scattered everywhere throughout the dung-mass. The dung- mass 

 was then pressed together and placed in a crystallising dish, as in 

 Experiments I and II. During several subsequent weeks there 

 came up on it the usual succession of Moulds and small Coprini. 

 Coprinus lagopus, especially, became very plentiful ; but there was 

 never any sign of Coprinus sterquilinus. 



When horse dung is sterilised and spores of Coprinus sterquilinus 



