OCTOBER 23, 1875.] IHE GARDENERS. CHRONICLE. . 521 
airs vanish and | be of different sexes. Known facts point quite in the 
ing seed throws up a plum le and throws dow and at the moment of maturity the h 
radicle. This mycelium being the produce of fertili- | the pileus is naked, which nakedness is the first sign opposite direction, and if sex is once allowed in 
sation is now capable, under certain conditions, of | ofits decay. When the fragile little fungus has at | and spores then we must be p to allow sex in 
producing new plants on certain spots on the threads. | length produced its fruit, and is prostrate and dying | pollen and spermatozoids, As or ovule must be 
Spores are now unnecessary, upon the matrix from which it be | considered female, whilst unfi ed or still in the 
seed unnecessary where the creeping root-stock | seen with patience under the microscope, the cy ovary, but when once fertilised it combines both sexes 
f Couch-grass is present. Or the celium may go | produce spermatozoids which passive and | and cannot be other than hermaphrodite. A seco 
to rest in the form of cords or thick threads, when it | then active ; the h res and cau olour, as orange (which combines the red and yellow 
is terme izomorpha, or in the form of knots or | discharge of the first living cell of the pileus of a new | primaries), can never be red or yellow. In dicecious 
bulblets, when it is called Sclerotia, A similar stateof | plant. It will bes these observations that | plants the seeds are capable of producing either sex, 
1 
radiatus, though one of the most minute ап and are not themselves male or female, and even the 
i great fleshy rootstock of Bryonia dioica will be male 
А 5 р in one place, and if removed to a different posi- 
ushroom arises from a spore. In Mushroom- | species of Agaricus. It must not be supposed that | tion be female. The Rev. M. ]. Berkeley, writing 
spa д еѕе о і can be followed without close | of Coprinus (Gardeners’ Chronicle, April 17, 1875, 
the root-stock in Couch-grass. attention and the utmost patience, All the 3,000,000 | p. 503), says—‘‘L i of the res 
Fig. 112 and last represents, enlarged 120 diameters, | spores of the fungus do not grow and make new | of some Coprinus under germination seem to show 
C. rad few moments before expansion, when | plants, or the world would soon be covered with | that impregnation takes place at a very early 
nearly all the cells are present. Most of the cells here | C. radi ised an riod.” 
shown are, however, only about one-half the size they | grows 
things is common in many perennial flowering plants, | C. 
iatus, For . 
there are millions which necessarily perish, Now my observations show that this impregnation 
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FIG. II2. —COPRINUS RADIATUS, ЕК, 
FIG. III.—COPRINUS RADIATUS, FR. " 
Enlarged 200 diameters, lsize at A, A, A Enlarged 120 diameters, 
reach i very one Ona dung-heap which will produce C. radiatus, | often actually takes place on the hymenium itself, the 
тен M GAT and they сп з: all and ur) n, | other cas as С. ч. че = ge &c., are sure to кон ИИ at os soiree red : 2 species - 
as I have ascertained by counting the cells of man appear; and not only do species come up in escri rapi s dividv 
im 'This is hot io be wondered at, for if the company with C, pas wed but every intermediate | The арин апа p may be iie as 
2,500, which go orm one somew. inalogous w а ovule а pollen n 
- te plan i urteen days for their produc- | any morning. lan ong to no | grain, or with what is seen in Chara; or like the 
tion, it follows as a necessity that the cells go on mul- | species bed as such, but are natural па | a pher р "eme iy Taa 
tiplying all the fortnight, night and day, at the rateof | doubtlessly produced by the m 1 Algo. ack in6 
1114 to the minute. It takes about five hours for P piercing the spores of another. дм, cannot — importance тА 
the spores to be gradually produced all over the arger species of A, artus rp =й ен HE EN M n fructification ilis, ' 
hymenium—say from 5 to 10 o'clock in the morning, | common, and they puzzi — T. ЛЕЕ к Nee a ar 
agence hs apie орана белан са жа ors Low erem rp балы! Тоок к а A. variabilis is peculiar to dead 
n ы ^ 
E e. pm Mice Анин Euer or эчи site of sat of the higher fungi have no claim to rank as | stems, sticks, and leaves, and — grow -— 
100,000 every d true species, and that plants like Agaricus procerus, dung. Moreover ed a арин ed upon 
No sooner has the plant arrived at perfection than | A. rachodes, A. excoriatus, gracilentus, with | of mycelium taken from € р 
that very moment it begins to perish. Ihavedemon- | others, are mere forms of one and the same plant | belong to this Agaricus ; but ма ng um Bes 
strated the cells of the pileus and the hairs which | with every int diate link. as likely, in my opinion, to have 
e Van Tieghem working on this | othe ; 
- t the | vations says—'' It is 
form the veil are the first to appear, so ar usi 
the sist to disappear. The fine matted hairswhich form 5р О Са Bot to. me | sil 
the veil asund e ngus produces spores р epe ^ 
ivan m m i mg qup а d the cap, | it is quite unreasonable to i е seeds or spores to | and those I have described in Peziza 
