MYCELIAL STRANDS loi 



the contents of the myceUum as a whole pass to the fruit-body when 

 this begins its development. 



The surface hyphae also produce the fruit-body rudiments, each 

 of which presumably originates from one single hypha in the 

 manner described by Brefeld ^ for Coprinus stercorarius and G. 

 lagopus {vide infra, Figs. 93-95). Numerous observations have 

 taught me that a fruit-body rudiment never begins its development 

 within the substance of a dung-ball but always at the surface. 



The base of the stipe of a fruit-body of Coprinus sterquilinus is 

 always connected with one or more strands of the superficial 

 mycelial membrane (Fig. 54, p. 95) ; and it appears, therefore, 

 that this membrane plays a part in attaching the fruit-body to its 

 substratum. In Panaeolus campanulatus we have a parallel 

 phenomenon, but in that fungus the attaching membrane is not so 

 obvious and is gelatinous.^ 



To sum up the foregoing discussion, it may be said that the 

 mycehum of Coprinus sterquilinus at the surface of a dung-ball 

 functions in the following ways : (1) it hastens the occupation of 

 a dung-ball by rapidly growing around the ball's surface and by 

 thus providing new points of infection for radial penetration ; 

 (2) it spreads the infection from one dung-ball to another directly 

 when they are in contact, and indirectly when they are slightly 

 separated, by growing over the surface of the intervening non- 

 nutrient substratum or through the air ; (3) it forms a membrane 

 consisting largely of conducting strands which are of importance 

 for transmitting food materials to the growing fruit-body ; (4) it 

 gives rise to a fruit-body ; and (5) it serves to attach the base of 

 the stipe to the substratum and thus assists in the mechanical 

 fixation of the fruit-body. 



The Mycelial Strands within the Substratum. — The hyphae in 

 the interior of a dung-ball are chiefly concerned with attacking the 

 food substances there present, and at the same time adding to their 

 number and total volume. Finally, after they have become united 

 into a three-dimensional network,^ they empty themselves by giving 



1 O. Brefeld, Untersuchungen iiber Pike, Heft III, 1877, Taf. I and Taf. VI. 



2 Cf. these Researches, vol. ii, 1922, p. 250, Fig. 87. 

 ^ Vide infra, Part II, chap. i. 



