296 RESEARCHES ON FUNGI 



hymenium has been shown in outline. The larger elements are 

 the basidia and the smaller ones the paraphyses. An analysis of 

 this area is given at D and E. The basidia of C have all been 

 represented at D, and, similarly, the paraphyses of C have all 

 been represented at E. 



If one compares the paraphyses in Fig. 100, E with those 

 in Fig. 94, F (p. 276) and Fig. 95, B (p. 281), all of which have 

 been drawn to the same scale, it is obvious that the paraphyses 

 grow steadily in size during the gradual exhaustion of the 

 hymenium. The paraphyses of an exhausted hymenium have 

 diameters which are between two and three times as large as those 

 of paraphyses in the hymenium just previously to the production 

 of the first spores. 



A transverse section through the very young hymenium, which 

 has not yet produced any spores but is about to produce them, is 

 shown in Fig. 101 in the upper drawing at h, while the subjacent 

 subhymenium is shown at s. The more prominent and larger 

 elements of the hymenium, a, b, c, are all basidia ; while the 

 smaller elements, p, ensconced between the lower parts of the 

 basidia are all paraphyses. In order that the basidia and para- 

 physes may be the more readily distinguished from one another, 

 in Fig. 101 a second (lower) drawing has been added. This is 

 a copy of the upper drawing except for the fact that the sub- 

 hymenium has been toned down and the paraphyses have been 

 left unshaded. Of the basidia : the four prominent ones, a a, one 

 of which has already developed sterigmata, are basidia of the first 

 generation ; the medium-sized ones, b b, are basidia of the second 

 generation ; whilst the smaller basidia, c c, are the basidia of the 

 third, fourth, and all subsequent generations. The basidia ab c 

 in Fig. 101 should be compared with the corresponding basidia 

 a b c in Fig. 100, A (p. 295). The paraphyses of Fig. 101 also 

 correspond with the paraphyses of Fig. 100, B. 



We have now studied the Hymenium of Panaeolus campanulatus 

 in all those stages of its development which are subsequent to the 

 coming into existence of its elements. We have seen that all 

 its elements, before, during, and subsequently to spore-discharge 

 by the fruit-body as a whole, are either basidia or paraphyses ; 



