If 



PREFACE 



IN 1909 there was published my Researches on Fungi, which treated 



i of the fruit-bodies of Hymenomycetes and certain Ascomycetes 



^ considered as organs for the production and liberation of spores. 



x During the thirteen years which have elapsed since that time my 



^investigations have been continued, and I now propose to embody 



the results which have accumulated therefrom in three new volumes. 



The 1909 volume and these new volumes are to be considered as 



parts of a larger work having the general title Researches on Fungi. 



. Of this work the 1909 volume now becomes Volume I and the pre- 



x, sent volume Volume II. The third and fourth volumes are already 



> t in an advanced stage of preparation for the press. 



The morphological and physiological facts which have come to 



light in the course of my researches have taught me that the adapta- 



tion of structure to function in the higher fungi is just as remarkable 



as that found in the Phanerogamia. The form and arrangement of 



. parts exhibited in the sporophore of the Common Mushroom and its 



oS allies appear to be no less beautifully fitted for the efficient pro- 



. duction and liberation of spores than are the form and arrangement 



v of Orchid flowers for securing successful pollination by insects- 



:" Ample evidence supporting this conclusion will, I believe, be found 



in the pages of this book. The analysis of the hymenium of 



Panaeolus campanulatus, as described in Chapter X, will perhaps 



enable the reader to comprehend, in a manner not hitherto possible, 



how millions of hyphae combine their activities to produce the 



spore-stream which is emitted from beneath the pileus without 



a moment's interruption for the seven or more days of the spore- 



fall period. 



The work for this volume has been carried out chiefly in my own 

 laboratory at the University of Manitoba, but in part also in the 



