. FUNGT. 



33 



3. The formation of " gills " from the original pore- 

 or alveolar structure. 



If the above hypothesis, put forward to account for 

 the abnormal fungi, is not thought plausible, what other 

 cause can be possibly thought of to account for all these 

 abnormal cases ? That these are not mere accidents 

 is shown by the fact that W. Gr. Smith found, on more 

 than one occasion, crops of mushrooms every indivi- 

 dual of which bore an inverted cap on its surface. So 

 he concluded that this feature was inherent in the 

 spawn, an observation which surely supports the above 

 general hypothesis. 



5. CHANGE OF FORM. 



Naturally connected with what was dealt with in the 

 last paragraphs of the preceding section is an abnor- 

 mality described by Boudier in Agaricus maculatus. 

 This consisted in having the majority of the gills 

 cyclically, instead of radially, arranged. There were 

 in this case two sets of normal gills besides the circular 

 ones. Between the outermost circle and the margin 

 there were irregular transverse partitions, often anas- 

 tomosing, resembling pores. Between the innermost 

 circle and the point of attachment of the stipe were 

 irregular prolongations resulting from fissures in the 

 first circle, and resembling certain Sisostrema. The 

 circular lamellae often anastomose at their base by 

 folds uniting them together. The probable explanation 

 is that the anomaly represents an abortion of the 

 original gills along with an exaggerated development 

 and fusion of the interlamellar folds so frequent in 

 Agarics. This seems probable, and also that this form 

 is a transitional one of a peculiar type. It would appear 

 that the tangential walls of the alveolas or pores, to 

 which reversion is taking place, have become exagge- 

 rated at the expense of the radial ones, except at the 

 margin, where the balanced pore-structure prevailed. 

 The genus Gyclomyces represents a normal stereo- 

 vol. i. 3 



