146 



RESEARCHES ON FUNGI 



I 



The same results were obtained with Coprinus pUcatiUa and 

 C. micaceus. In the already-mentioned footnote to Brefeld's 

 description of C. stercorarius, it is stated that the spores are all 

 discharged simultaneously. Although I have not had an oppor- 

 tunity of examining this species, I think it highly probable that it 

 discharges its spores in the same manner as other Coprini, and that 

 Brefeld's statement will not be corroborated by further observation. 



Whilst using Method I. it was often easy to observe single ripe 

 basidia and to watch the disappearance of some of the spores. Thus, 



in the case of Poly- 

 porus squamosus, in 

 one instance three 

 spores left a basi- 

 diuin at intervals of 

 twenty seconds, 

 whilst the fourth 

 remained on its 

 sterigma for some 

 minutes afterwards 

 and was not seen to 

 disappear. In an- 

 other instance two 

 of the four spores 

 left a basidium with- 

 in a few seconds of 

 one another. A large 

 number of observa- 



FIG. 53. Diagram showing the appearance of part of the 

 hymenium at the base of a section of a hymenial tube 

 of Polyporus squamosus (cf. Fig. 47. p. 135). The arrow 

 indicates the direction of observation. A basidium 

 bearing four ripe spores and the top of the glass slide 

 were included in the range of focus. The figure shows 

 the position of one of the spores on the glass slide 

 after being discharged to six times its own length from 

 the basidium. 



tions, obtained by using Methods I. and IV., have convinced me that 

 in very many species the spores are discharged from a ripe basidium, 

 not simultaneously, but successively one after the other. It seems 

 to me highly probable that this is a general rule throughout the 

 Hymenomycetes. 



Method V. A transverse section through the hymenial tubes of 

 Polyporus squamosus (Fig. 47) was made and placed on a glass slide 

 in the same manner as was done for Method I. The basidia thus 

 came to occupy their normal horizontal positions. The discharge of 

 spores was watched with the ordinary vertical microscope. I con- 



