MAY 31 1912 
LIBRARY 
NEW Yo^K 
Botanical 
°A KDBJS' 
The Function and Fate of the Cystidia of Coprinus 
atramentarius, together with some General 
Remarks on Coprinus Fruit-bodies. 
BY 
A. H. R. BULLER, D.Sc., Ph.D., F.R.S.C. 
Professor of Botany at the University of Manitoba. 
With Plates L and LI. 
Contents. 
* 
I. Introductory Remarks. 
II. Investigations on Coprinus atramentarius . 
III. General Remarks on Coprinus Fruit-bodies 
IV. Appendix . 
V. Summary of the Chief Results. 
Explanation of Figures in Plates L and LI 
I. Introductory Remarks. 
YSTIDIA are certain specialized cells, usually much larger than the 
paraphyses and basidia, of peculiar shape, which form part of, and 
project from, the hymenium of certain species of Hymenomycetes and 
Gastromycetes. 
The form and size of cystidia vary much in different species, but for 
any one species they are fairly constant. Cystidia are unbranched and as 
a rule unicellular, but in the two species of the genus Bonia 1 they are 
represented by numerous short multicellular bristles. Cystidia may be 
cylindrical as in Coprinus atramentarius , fusiform as in Peniophora quercinap 
ventricose as in Inocybe geophyllap spear-shaped as in Hymenochaete Cacaop 
or club-shaped as in Polyporus mollis . 5 The wall of the part of a cystidium 
which is exposed to the air may remain smooth as in the Coprini, or it 
may become covered with crystals of calcium oxalate as in species of 
Peniophorap or it may become crowned with mucilage as in Inocybe 
geophylla? 
1 Engler und Prantl, Die nat. Pflanzenfamilien, Teil i, Abteil. i**, p. 123. 
2 Ibid., Fig. 68 b, p. 122. 
8 G. Massee, A monograph of the genus Inocybe. Annals of Botany, vol. xviii, 1904, p. 477 
and PI. XXXII, Figs. 7, 8, and 9. 
4 Engler und Prantl, 1 . c., Fig. 68 E, p. 122. 
5 R. Hartig, Die Zersetzungserscheinungen des Holzes, Berlin, 1878, p. 51, also Taf. IX, Fig. 10. 
6 M. C. Cooke, Introduction to the Study of Fungi, 1895, p. 143. 
7 G. Massee, 1 . c., p. 463 and PI. XXXII, Figs. 7 and 8. 
Annals of Botany, Vol. XXIV. No. XCVI. October, 1910.] 
U U 
PAGE 
. 613 
. 616 
. 623 
. 626 
. 627 
. 628 
