ANELLARIA SEPARATA 349 



on cow dung. On the twenty-ninth day after the spores had been 

 sown, the first fruit-body began to shed its spores. It is thus 

 proved that the fungus can pass through the whole of its life-history, 

 from spore to spore, in the course of a single month. 



The following is a brief description of the fruit-body, which 

 differs but little from that given by Massee. 1 Pileus 2 5 to 3 3 cm. 

 high (varying up to 5' 5 cm., vide Fig. 124), 2' 5 to 4 -25 cm. broad 

 (varying up to 6 cm., vide Fig. 124), ovate, then campanulate, not 

 expanding, viscid, even, ochraceous, then whitish, shining, flesh 

 rather thick ; gills adfixed, ascending, thin, crowded, broad, mottled 

 greyish-black, margin paler ; stipe 8 to 16 cm. long, straight, base 

 sub-clavate, attenuated upwards, whitish, shining, apex striatulate, 

 ring persistent, distant ; spores black, opaque, 19-21 /i long, 10-11 /* 

 broad, and 9 /* wide. 



Massee states that the fruit-bodies are from 3 to 5 inches long. 

 However, I have gathered specimens 6 inches long, and according 

 to Stevenson 2 the maximum length is about 8 inches. Some- 

 times the pileus is very large and the stipe relatively short, 

 as is shown in Fig. 124. Dr. Somerville Hastings has informed 

 me that in the Alps of Switzerland, at a height of from 6,000 to 

 7,000 feet, the pilei of Anellaria separata are well-developed, but 

 the length of the stipe is not more than twice the breadth of the 

 pileus. 3 It is evident that the length of the stipe of A. separata 

 varies greatly in response to external conditions. 



The spores have three different dimensions : length, breadth, 

 and thickness. The difference between the breadth and thickness 

 may best be perceived by looking down on the spores, so that one 

 obtains an endwise view of them like that shown in Fig. 128. 

 Other authors have taken notice of the length and breadth only. 

 Massee 4 states that the spores measure 10 by 7 p. My average 

 measurements for length and breadth are 20 and 10 5 p, respectively, 

 so that the spores of my specimens were twice as long as those of 



1 G. Massee, British Fungus-Flora, London, 1892, vol. i, pp. 330-331. 



2 J. Stevenson, Hymenomycetes Britannici, Edinburgh and London, vol. i, 

 1886, p. 338. 



3 For a photograph of the Alpine form of Anellaria separata vide these Researches, 

 vol. iii. 



4 G. Massee, loc. cit. 



