STROPHARIA SEMIGLOBATA 



discharge their spores. Possibly the six hours actually observed 

 for one of the earliest of the basidial generations may be lengthened 

 out to seven or eight for the later generations. 



Rate of Discharge of the Spores of a Basidium and Collapse 

 of the Basidium-body. The following observations were made 

 with the horizontal microscope in the manner fully described for 

 Panaeolus campanulatus (Fig. 91, p. 261). The gill attached to the 

 pileus was developing normally. 



For several basidia the times of discharge for the four 

 spores were carefully observed. I called each observation and my 

 laboratory attendant, Mr. S. G. Churchward, kindly recorded the 

 time in seconds. The four spores of any one basidium were always 

 discharged in succession in the course of about two to ten minutes. 

 If we make the zero of the time-scale the moment at which the first 

 of the four spores is shot away, then the times for the discharge of 

 all four spores for three basidia which were observed may be set 

 out as follows. 



The Discharge of the Four Spores of a Single Basidium in 

 Stropharia semiglobata. 



One may conclude from these observations that the intervals 

 between the discharge of the first and second, of the second and 

 third, and of the third and fourth spores, are by no means 

 constant but highly variable, ranging between nearly five minutes 

 and only five seconds. It is not unlikely that very rarely two spores 

 are shot off from the same basidium at practically the same in- 

 stant ; but successive discharge is evidently the rule. The average 

 length of time taken for the discharge of all the spores from each 

 of three basidia was five minutes and one second. 



