Abstract
Cell sizes were measured in microscope sections of fruit bodies of Coprinus cinereus whose temporal development was defined by the stage they had reached in meiosis and sporulation. Comparison of length/width ratios suggested that in pre-meiotic stages of primordium development, stipe elongation was more due to cell proliferation than inflation. Major inflation was a post-meiotic event and could account for all the basidiome expansion involved in maturation. Inflation of cells in the pileus was closely correlated with inflation of cells in the stipe. These studies provide new data about the spatiotemporal co-ordination of basidiome tissue development and indicate that some form of long range signalling system exists.