i 24 Alas see. — A Revision of the 
giving off free ends which bend outwards, and bear the 
elements of the hymenium, exactly as in other Agarics. 
Cystidia are present in the hymenium of most species, and 
are, as a rule, much larger than elsewhere in the Agaricineae. 
The spores also, as a rule, are relatively large, one Queens- 
land species — Coprinus gigasporous , Massee — having the 
largest spores of any known Agaric, measuring 28-30 x 14-16//. 
In Coprinus insignis , Peck, the spores are minutely asperate; 
in all other known species the epispore is smooth. In 
systematic works the spores are said to be black ; that is, 
when seen in the mass on a white ground ; and under these 
conditions the statement is approximately correct, being often 
accompanied by a tinge of purple or brown. When seen by 
transmitted light the spores are always some shade of brown, 
varying in the different species from rich burnt-sienna, through 
umber, to apparent black, when the colouring matter is so 
dense that the spore is quite opaque. Karsten 1 has recently 
broken up the genus Coprinus into several genera, depending 
mainly on the shade of colour of the spores, as seen by 
transmitted light ; but, like all attempts at classification based 
on a single character, whatever may be its merits when 
treating of the species of a limited area, it breaks down 
when dealing with the entire number of known species ; and 
even in a local flora, the adoption of narrow characters that 
will not embrace all known species is perhaps a mistake, 
inasmuch as it cramps the student’s knowledge, and leads him 
to believe that genera and species are much more sharply 
defined than they are in reality. 
Coprinus sclerotigenus , Ellis and Everh., springs singly or 
in small numbers from a large, irregular, externally black 
sclerotium. C. tuberostis , Quelet, also originates from a small, 
black sclerotium ; and Brefeld 2 has shown that a small 
sclerotium is formed by C. stercorarius , Fr. The number 
of sclerotium-forming species will probably soon be extended, 
now that attention has been directed to the subject. 
1 Ryssl. Finl. och den Skandinaviska Hattsvampar, I. pp. 526-550 (1879). 
2 Bot. Untersnch. iiber Schimmelpilze, Heft III (1887). 
