198 



RESEARCHES ON FUNGI 



The paraphyses are present in just the right proportion to prevent 

 the spores of adjacent basidia from coming in contact. A glance 

 at Plate III., Fig. 15, shows that the spacing of the adhesive 

 spores is brought about so economically that it would be difficult 

 to imagine how more of them could be developed simultaneously 

 on any given area of a gill surface. A cross-section through a 

 gill (Plate III., Fig. 16) shows that the basidia project considerably 

 beyond the paraphyses and are all directed perpendicularly out- 

 wards from the gill surface. 



When the pileus is still barrel-shaped and until spore-fall 



FIG. 69. Coprinus romatus. Fruit-bodies in an early stage of development. 

 In the tallest the fall of spores and autodigestion have just begun. The 

 four others are a few hours younger : the pilei are separating from the 

 stipe below and the gills are still intact. Photographed at Sutton Park, 

 Warwickshire, by J. E. Titley. About natural size. 



begins, the inner edges of the gills towards the stipe, throughout 

 their entire length and for a width of about O25 mm., appear to 

 the naked eye as white bands (Plate I., Fig. 1, m; Plate II., 

 Figs. 8 and 9, ra). These are especially inflated portions of the 

 gills, entirely devoid of basidia and covered over by large, colour- 

 less, unicellular cystidia (Plate III., Figs. 13 and 14). The 



