192 FUNGI AND HOW TO KNOW THEM 
continuously for thirteen days. Professor Buller thinks 
“ that for every spore which succeeds in developing into a 
mature plant, producing reproductive bodies, something like 
1,000,000,000,000 spores are wasted. How slight must be 
the chances for any given spore of Polyporus squamosus 
finding a suitable substratum for successful development!” 
Professor Buller discovered that spores falling from any 
Hymenomycete suspended in a suitable glass chamber, such 
as a closed beaker, can be seen in clouds, or individually, 
without magnification by using a concentrated beam of 
light. The demonstration of this can very well be carried 
out at any time, for Lenzites betulina, Polystictus versicolor, and 
other woody species that can be kept dry in bottles for 
months or years will quickly revive after wet cotton-wool 
has been placed on the top of the pileus, begin to shed their 
spores within six hours, and continue to emit them for days. 
It was calculated that large sporophores of Agaricus cam- 
pestris, Coprinus comatus , Polyporus squamosus, etc., shed about 
a million spores a minute for two or more days. 
“ When a fruit-body is placed in hydrogen or carbon 
dioxide, the liberation of spores quickly ceases. The pre¬ 
sence of oxygen in the surrounding atmosphere appears to 
be essential for the continuance of spore-discharge. In pure 
oxygen, fruit-bodies shed their spores for several hours at the 
same rate as in air. 
“ When a fruit-body is subjected to the vapour of ether 
or chloroform, spore-discharge ceases almost instantaneously, 
but can be resumed when the anaesthetic has been removed. 
A fruit-body of Lenzites betulina recovered its spore-liberating 
function after this had been inhibited by ether vapour for 
a week. 
“ The four spores on each basidium are discharged suc¬ 
cessively. They leave the sterigmata within a few seconds 
or minutes of one another. Each spore is shot out violently 
from its sterigma to a distance of about ^ mm.” 
It is usually said that the gills of the Coprini dissolve 
