208 



RESEARCHES ON FUNGI 



bell-jar, the spores discharged into the air can be collected on 



paper. 



Spore - deposits can be collected on paper from any of the 



Coprini. I have obtained spores in this way not only from 



Coprinus comatus 

 but also from C. 

 atramentarius, C. 

 micaceus, C. fime- 

 tarius, var. cinereus, 

 as well as from a 

 number of smaller 

 species. Duggar l 

 is therefore in error 

 when, in discussing 

 the means of mak- 

 ing pure cultures 

 of edible Hymeno- 

 mycetes, he says 

 " members of the 

 genus Coprinus are 

 deliquescent, and 

 here it is imprac- 

 ticable to procure 

 spores by the spore- 

 print method." 

 With the exercise 

 of a little care, one 

 can obtain as dense 

 a spore-deposit from 

 a Coprinus coma- 

 tus as from a Mush- 



FlG. 73. Fruit-bodies of Coprinus atramentarius shedding 

 spores. Although the lower parts of the stipes are 

 oblique, the upper parts are vertical, so that the gills 

 lie in vertical planes. The lower parts of the pilei are 

 splitting so as to permit of the requisite separation of 

 the gills which are undergoing autodigestion. Photo- 

 graphed at Sutton Park, Warwickshire, by J. E. Titley. 

 Reduced to about f 



Coprinus atramentarius (Fig. 73) and C. micaceus (Fig. 74) 

 were found to shed their spores in essentially the same manner 

 as C. comatus. C. plicatilis, and other very small species, behave 



1 B. M. Duggar, " The Principles of Mushroom Growing and Mushroom Spawn 

 Making," U.S. Dep. of Agric., Bureau of Plant Industry, Bulletin No. 85, 1905, p. 22. 



