Observations on the Germination of the Spores of 
Coprinus sterquilinus, Fr. 
BY 
MARGARET L. BADEN, 
Botanical Department , the University , Bristol . 
With Plate VII. 
NTRODUCTION. This work was originally undertaken in October, 
1912, with the idea of investigating the nuclear phenomena in the genus 
Coprinus , but, owing to difficulties experienced in the germination of the 
spores, attention was subsequently centred on that. The observations 
recorded in this paper were made in the Botanical Department of the 
University of Bristol. 
Work on coprophilous Fungi generally has been largely morphological 
and systematic, but a good deal of attention has been paid to the germina¬ 
tion of the spores. 
Historical . The opinion was held for many years that the spores 
of coprophilous Fungi would only germinate after having passed through 
the alimentary canal of an animal, but there is very little direct evidence on 
this point. Janczewski ( 11 , pp. 257-62), 1871, attempted to germinate the 
spores of Ascobolus furfuraceus in nutrient solutions, but failed. He there¬ 
fore fed rabbits with bread containing spores, and found germination had 
commenced when the dung was deposited. De Bary ( 7 , pp. 375-7), 1884, 
germinated spores of coprophilous Phycomycetes— Mucor , &c.—in pure 
water, and was successful in germinating those of Sordaria and Coprinus in 
nutrient solutions. His attempts with Ascobolus furfuraceus, however, 
failed. Brefeld ( 2 - 4 ), 1891, was unable to germinate the spores of the 
latter genus, but he was very successful with those of various species 
of Coprinus and other Agaricineae. Massee and Salmon ( 14 , 15 ), 1901, 
experimented with the spores of Ascobolusperplexans and Ascobolusglaber. 
The spores germinated in nutrient solutions at 8o° F. after twenty hours, 
but at 6o° F. only very feeble germination occurred after a much longer 
period. Attempts to germinate the spores of other species of Ascobolus 
and those of other Fungi failed. Falck ( 9 , pp. 1-3), 1904, was unable 
[Annals of Botany, Vol. XXIX. No. CXIIX. January, 1915.] 
