RESEARCHES ON FUNGI 



CHAPTER I 



BASIDIA AND THE DISCHARGE OF SPORES 



The Elements of the Hymenium The Discharge of Spores from the Basidia 

 The Water-drop The Chemical Constituents of the Drop Stokes' Law 

 The Mechanism of Spore-discharge Does a Basidium Produce more than 

 One Generation of Spores ? The Sterigma and Spore-hilum in Hymenomy- 

 cetes and Gastromycetes Balloons Falling from Rest or Fired from a Gun, 

 Used to Illustrate the Movements of Spores A Comparison of the Rates 

 of Fall of Spores and Thistle-down A Comparison of the Rates of Fall of 

 Spores and Bacteria 



The Elements of the Hymenium. -- The investigations of 

 numerous observers have led to the conclusion that the hymenium 

 of Hymenomycetes, when most fully developed, consists of three 

 kinds of elements : basidia, paraphyses, and cystidia. 



The essential element of the hymenium, always present under 

 normal conditions, is the basidium. Typically, this is a club-shaped 

 cell which, on attaining maturity, projects slightly from the general 

 surface of the hymenium and bears at its free end four sterigmata 

 and four spores. While the vast majority of species have basidia 

 of this type, there are exceptions to the general rule. Thus mono- 

 sporous basidia are characteristic of Pistillaria maculaecola, di- 

 sporous of the cultivated Mushroom (Ptsalliotacampestris), trisporous 

 of Coprinus narcoticus, hexasporous of Cantharellus cibarius, and 

 octosporous of Corticium coronatum. These and other aberrant 

 types of basidia will be treated of more fully in Chapter X in a 

 discussion of the relative position of the sterigmata. 



Paraphyses are elements which more or less resemble the bodies 



