produced low down on the stem in the same fashion (fig. 19). An instructive example of a like kind was described and figured by Mr. Worthington Smith, in the Gardeners' Chronicle,* in which Agaricus laccatus, Scop., produced many filiform stems, surmounted by small pilei (fig. 20). The secondary pilei in these instances were not perfectly developed, and a sceptic may dispute their claim to be true receptacles. I will give cases where no doubt can possibly exist. My friend, Mr. Plowright, sent me a specimen of Agaricus stans, having a fairly-well developed secondary receptacle, with a pileus a quarter of an inch across, and a stem nearly half an inch long, arising from the parent stem, about half-way up from the base (fig. 21). Mr. Worthington Smith gives a figure of Lactarius quietus,† in section (fig. 22), with a supplemental receptacle, and other instances might be added were it necessary. "I will now direct your attention to a few facts illustrative of superior prolification. To this category belongs a very singular monstrosity figured by Mr. Worthington Smith, in the Journal of Botany, of Boletus edulis, Bull, on the pileus of which were seated two supplementary receptacles; the one in which the pileus was not supported by a stem, the other in which a perfect and proportionate stem was present (fig. 23). It may be contended, but in my mind without adequate reason or probability, that the two supplementary receptacles were developed on the soil immediately above where the elder receptacle was being developed, and were lifted up by it. It is much easier to believe that it is the result of prolification, which, if it will account satisfactorily for the facts already cited of receptacles produced from the stipes, may equally well account for this. But take fig. 9, which represents a section of Russula vitellina, on the pileus of which a secondary receptacle is thrown up, having no semblance whatever of being an independent plant, and if it is accepted in the one case it may be in the other. "I am disposed to refer two curious monstrosities to this cause which came under my own observation very recently. The first was a plant of Paxillus involutus, which had formed a hymenial surface on the top of its pileus, of limited area and of a curiously reticulated form, resembling the hymenium of a large grooved Polyporus (fig. 25). The other was a Hydnum repandum, on the upper surface of the pileus of which were found clusters of upright spines exactly similar to the normal ones beneath. Detached groups of spines were also formed on the upper part of the stem, but this is not so unusual a circumstance (fig. 26). "One solitary instance of included prolification came under my notice some time since, of which I have never seen a similar case recorded. Amongst a number of specimens of Agaricus campestris bought in Shrewsbury market, I observed one which possessed a remarkable umbo, and on cutting the specimen perpendicularly through the umbo, I found it to be caused by the formation of a hollow space in the form of a small pileus, with perfect gills radiating from a common centre, but with no trace of a stem (fig. 27). It was seated entirely within the flesh of the pileus, some distance below the cuticle. No conceivable cause of this phenomenon can be alleged except prolification. Gardeners' Chronicle, July 26th, 1873. + Gardeners' Chronicle, 1876. DESCRIPTION OF PLATE. 1. Agaricus procerus, Scop. After W. G. Smith (reduced), Gard. Chron., 1873. campestris, Linn. After De Seynes (reduced); Bull, Soc. Bot. France, V. xiv. (1867), tab. v., fig. 8. 2. 3. Lactarius serifluus, Fr. Reduced. 4. Russula alutacea, Fr. After W. G. Smith (reduced), Jour. Bot., 1869, t. 99. 5. Agaricus phyllophilus, Fr. C. B. Plowright. 6. 7. 8. campestris, Linn. After De Seynes (reduced), 1. c., t. vi., fig. 4. fascicularis, Huds. Section (reduced) of specimen by Mr. Green, Bristol. fimicola, Fr. After De Seynes (reduced), l. c., t. vi., fig. 1. 9. Russula vitellina, Fr. Section (reduced), after W. G. Smith, in litt. nigricans, Fr. Reduced. Found near Shrewsbury. fragilis, Fr. Reduced. From C. B. Plowright. 10. 11. 12. Agaricus campestris, Linn. Section (reduced), Master's Teratology, fig. 24. Linn. Showing how pilei may become attached to the pileus of an older individual. with a pileus attached beneath; (a) remains of stem and veil. polygrammus, Bull. Section (reduced), after W. G. Smith. Exhibited by the Rev. W. Houghton, at Hereford, 1871. pulverulentus, P. After W. G. Smith (reduced), Gard. Chron., July 26th, 1873. racemosus, Pers. After Persoon (reduced), Dispos., t. iii., fig. 8. Aueri, Nees. After Nees (reduced), Nova Acta Acad. Lcop., ix., tab. vi., fig. 18. nanus, Bull. After De Seynes, 1. c., t. v., fig. 3. laccatus, Scop. After W. G. Smith (reduced), Gard. Chron., July 26th, 1873. Sent me by C. B. Plowright. Section (reduced), after W. G. Smith, in litt. 24. Agaricus fascicularis, Hudson. A section (reduced), after W. G. Smith, 1. c. |