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Abstract: A virus disease of cultivated mushroom, Agaricus bisporus (Lange) Sing., was first noticed in 1948 (Sinden and Häuser, 1950) and has various names including 'La France disease' and 'Die-back disease'. Virus particles of 25, 29 and 19 x 50 nm have been found associated with the disease (Hollings, 1962). The various symptoms, of which serious loss of crop is the most damaging, are reviewed by several authors (Gandy, 1962; Schisler, et al., 1967; Dieleman-van Zaayen, 1969). Recently, it has been proved by mechanical inoculation into youug mushrooms and subsequent reisolation of virus particles from mushrooms showing symptoms of the disease, that this disease is caused by one or more viruses (Dieleman-van Zaayen and Temmink, 1968). In cell-free preparations extracted from diseased mushrooms and negatively stained with phosphotungstic acid (PTA), usually three types of virus particles were observed, often in combination: isometric particles with diameters of 25 nm and 34 nm, and elongated particles with rounded ends, 19 x 50 nm (Dieleman-van Zaayen and Temmink, 1968; see also Fig. 1). The 34 nm virus particles, having a distinct hexagonal outline, were initially overlooked by Hollings (1968), most probably because of their unstable nature. Since the disease under investigation was the first clear case of a fungus attacked by virus, it was interesting to know whether the virus particles could be detected in the fungus cells with the aid of common procedures, and in which part of the fungus cell mushroom virus occurs.
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