448 Vmversity of California PuhUcations in Botany [Vol. 7 



I. INTEODUCTION 



The peculiar split character of the gills of Schizophyllum called 

 the attention of botanists to this genus in comparatively early times. 

 Mention of this fungus appeared in Dillenius' "Catalogus plantarum 

 sponte circa Gissam nascentium" more than 200 years ago. Since 

 that time (1719) it has been frequently collected and described, and 

 in the last quarter-century has been reported to be of considerable 

 economic importance, but the literature upon the common Schizo- 

 phyllum is singularly fragmentary and incomplete. Early mention 

 was in the form of collection notes or brief descriptions of the dried 

 sporophores. Many of these appeared in print between the time of 

 Dillenius and the latter part of the 19th century. 



In 1884 W. G. Smith found Schizophyllum growing upon ensilage. 

 This is the earliest mention of its economic importance in available 

 literature. Since this article appeared Schizophyllum has been 

 reported as parasitic upon a large variety of hosts, but papers relating 

 to the exact nature of the parasitism are not to be found. 



There is also very little published concerning the microscopic struc- 

 ture of the sporophores or vegetative hyphae. A few sentences and 

 one figure in BuUer's "Researches on Fungi" (1909) give an inkling 

 as to the structure of the hymenium and hyphae composing the gills. 

 No mention or illustration of contained protoplasmic structure has 

 been found. Rumbold (1910) described and featured the walls of 

 the vegetative hyphae, but did not mention the cell contents. 



The literature upon the morphology of the sporophores, however, 

 is much more complete than that upon the microscopic structure. 

 Early descriptions were mostly confined to the structure of desiccated 

 specimens. Hasselbring in 1907 called attention to the development 

 of the sporophores and the peculiar relationship of the hymenophore 

 to the pileus and stipe. BuUer (1909) gave a full description of the 

 mature sporophores, origin of the secondary lamellae, marginal split- 

 ting, and incurving of the lamellar plates. Adams (1918) described 

 the origin and development of the lamellae. The phenomena he 

 describes, however, do not agree with the phenomena displayed by 

 sporophores growing in their normal habitat on the University of 

 California campus. 



