A curious case occurred some years since at Bury St. Edmunds, which may be mentioned here in connection with the development of these nodules. Two children had died under suspicious circumstances, and an examination of the body of the latter after exhumation was made, a report having arisen that the child died after eating mushrooms. As certain white nodules appeared on the inner surface of the intestines, it was at once hastily concluded that the spores of the mushroom had germinated, and that the nodules were infant mushrooms. This appeared to one of us so strange, that application was made for specimens, which were kindly forwarded, and a cursory glance was enough to convince us that they were not fungoid. An examination under the microscope further confirmed the diagnosis, and the application of nitric acid showed that the nodules were merely due to chalk mixture, which had been given to the child for the diarrhetic symptoms under which he succumbed.
Ehrenberg compared the whole structure of an Agaric with that of a mould, the mycelium corresponding with the hyphasma, the stem and pileus with the flocci, and the hymenium with the fructifying branchlets. The comparison is no less ingenious than true, and gives a lively idea of the connection of the more noble with the more humble fungi.—Ehrb. de Mycetogenesi.
In Paxillus involutus the hymenium may be readily torn off and unfolded.
This was well delineated in “Flora Danica,” plate 834, as observed in Coprinus comatus as long ago as 1780.
A. de Bary, “Morphologie und Physiologie der Pilze,” in “Hofmeister’s Handbuch,” vol. ii. cap. 5, 1866, translated in “Grevillea,” vol. i. p. 181.