GENERAL SUMMARY 



THE FOLLOWING IS A SUMMARY OF THE MORE IMPORTANT 

 RESULTS OBTAINED DURING THE INVESTIGATIONS 



PART I 



Chapter I. — In the Curtus Sub-type : (1) the gills are parallel- sided and 

 flanged at their edges ; (2) there are no cystidia on the gill-sides ; (3) the 

 existence of the interlamellar spaces is secured not by cystidia but by 

 the presence of gill-flanges, by an appropriate separation of the gills 

 where they adjoin the pileus-flesh, and by the shallowness and sufficient 

 rigidity of the gill-plates ; (4) the basidia are dimorphic ; (5) the fruit- 

 bodies are very small and the top of the pileus becomes flattened before 

 spore-discharge begins ; (6) the pileus-flesh and the gifls become cleft 

 from above downwards so as to form conspicuous radial sulcations on 

 the top of the pileus ; and (7) autodigestion is shght and affects only 

 the lower unspUt portion of each gill. The only representative of the 

 Curtus Sub-type so far recognised is Coprinus curtus. C. curtus is 

 identical with C. plicatiloides of Volume I. 



The author gives a full account of the structure and mode of spore- 

 discharge of Coprinus curtus accompanied by numerous illustrations, 

 and he also provides a taxonomic description of the species. 



Fruit-bodies of Coprinus curtus may be rendered sterile by fumes 

 from fresh horse manure. 



The pilear scales, which are minute, vary in colour from white to 

 deep red. The pilocystidia and caulocystidia excrete drops of colloidal 

 liquid. 



The trama in the upper part of each long gill consists of outer ordinary 

 cyUndrical hyphae and of central oval or spherical cells. These central 

 cells, as the pileus opens, swell up greatly and become the largest cells 

 in the fruit-body. Hence they have been called giant tramal cells. 

 Their function appears to be a mechanical one : by swelling up they 

 doubtless help to split the upper part of each gill into two halves and 

 so assist in the expansion of the pileus. 



In horse-dung cultures in the laboratory, successive crops of fruit- 



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