348 
MICHAEL LEVINE 
The Carpophore Primordium. 
The facts as to the development of the carpophore which may be 
regarded as settled are as follows: ist. The relative positions of the 
stipe, pileus and hymenium are essentially the same in the undiffer- 
entiated button as in the adult. 2d. The endogenous development of 
the hymenium as shown by Hoffmann, Brefeld, Fayod, Atkinson and 
others. 
The points on which further light is needed are: (i) Does the car- 
pophore originate from a single hypha? (2) The origin and direction 
of growth of the hyphae that form the pileus. (3) The origin and 
direction of growth of the hyphae that form the lamellae, especially 
the hymenium. (4) The method of origin of the gill chambers. 
I shall use the terms pileus primordium and pileus fundament as 
corresponding to the couche piUoglne of Fayod. As I have noted, 
carpophores of Coprinus micaceus are developed in cultures containing 
cornmeal agar, soil, horse dung, etc., in from eight to nine weeks. A 
sparse mycelium of white hyphae appears over the surface of the 
substratum in a week. After six to eight weeks dark brown rhizo- 
morphs appear growing upon the inner surface of the glass container. 
In about two or three weeks more small white or slightly grayish 
buttons may be expected to appear on the rhizomorphs on the glass, 
below the level of the medium and on the medium itself. After a day 
or two the buttons expand into the carpophores. Such media as 
cooked carrot, crushed beet leaves, beans, string beans, or bread 
soaked in grape decoction produce a dense mycelium but neither 
rhizomorphs nor carpophores are formed so far as my observation 
goes. Cornmeal agar cultures in test tubes last longer than those in 
milk bottles. The moisture is better conserved and the mycelium 
forms a thick layer over the agar upon which carpophores are formed. 
Such cultures may be studied directly with the low powers of the 
microscope. The young buttons develop both on mycelial strands in 
the agar and on the rhizomorphs. Carpophores from both soil-dung 
and cornmeal agar media were fixed and sectioned. 
I have not been able to determine whether Brefeld is right in 
claiming that the carpophores of Coprinus take their origin from a 
single hypha. A longitudinal median section of the youngest carpo- 
phore I have studied is shown in figure i . The young button consists 
of a tuft of hyphae whose direction of growth is markedly upward and 
somewhat divergent, as figured by Brefeld (1877), for Coprinus 
