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POPULAR SCIENCE REVIEW. 
ter in his 66 Systema Mycologicum,” or in either editions of his 
famous “ Epicrisis.” In the 66 Monographia Hymenomycetum,” 
Fries, however, says, in reference to the gills of this plant, 
66 acie albicante et jove udo plorante.” 
Part of a section of a specimen of Agaricus lacrymabundus 
is shown at e, PL CXXXII., with the characteristic drops m 
situ on the gills and upper portion of stem, f g. The drops are 
shown towards the edge of a gill enlarged 100 diameters at H, 
above which may be seen several drops of a smaller size, which 
may or may not at length coalesce with the lower drop. These 
drops invariably dry up on the edges and surface of the gills. 
As far as I know, milky tears peculiar to Agaricus lacrymabun- 
dus have never been minutely described, neither has an account 
of any microscopical examination of them been hitherto pub- 
lished. 
These drops are distilled direct from the cystidia. When the 
fungus reaches maturity the cystidia protrude boldly from the 
surface of the hymenium, as seen at c ; and the apex of the 
cystidium opens exactly as does the ascus in Peziza. At 
first the cystidium is filled with a thin fluid in which no gra- 
nules can be detected ; but at length a large vacuole is formed 
at the base of the cystidium, and the contents are forced to- 
wards the apex: here the fluid becomes partly differentiated 
into granules, and at length the cystidium opens at the top and 
discharges its contents. The protruded drop now swarms with 
moving atoms of a regular size, which I refer to spermatozoids. 
They are in every way identical with the spermatozoids of 
Caprinus radiatus (Fr.). 
In my recent paper on the reproduction of Coprinus radiatus 
I adverted to the fact of the cystidia falling bodily away from 
the hymenium, and exactly the same phenomena holds good in 
Agaricus lacrymabundus ; for if a drop of the liquid from the 
gills is examined under the microscope it will be seen to swarm 
with free cystidia which have dropped into the fluid from the 
gills; this liquid not only abounds with spermatozoids and 
systidia, but it also swarms with spores which have fallen away 
from the basidia, as seen in PI. CXXXII. 
If the spores which have fallen into the drop are examined, 
they will be found to be very different in aspect from the spores 
as they are seen upon the basidia ; for whilst the spores in the 
latter position are perfectly plain in outline, as seen at J, en- 
larged 2,000 diameters, the spores within the drop are studded 
all over the surface with the spermatozoids discharged from the 
cystidia. Not only are the spores studded as shown at K, but 
they are pierced through the external coat by a fine thread 
protruded from the spermatozoid. The effect of this is that a 
single free cell is soon after discharged from the spore, and this 
