SPORE-DISCHARGE FROM POLYPOREAE 



117 



interrupted by the cold weather. Among species liable to suffer 

 interruption in this manner one may mention : Schizophyllum 

 commune, Panus stypticus, and species of Lentinus and Polystictus. 

 Recently I obtained evidence of winter interruption of the spore- 

 discharge period 

 for Daedalea con 

 fragosa. 



On April 23, 

 1922, shortly after 

 the end of the 

 winter and the dis- 

 appearance of the 

 snow, I found in a 

 wood near Winni- 

 peg several large 

 fruit - bodies of 

 Daedalea confragosa 

 on a fallen tree- 

 trunk. It was evi- 

 dent from their 

 appearance that 

 they had been 

 developed in the 

 autumn of 1921 ; 

 and, as they were 

 full-grown, there 

 could be no doubt 

 that they had shed 

 an abundance of 

 spores before the 



winter had arrived. I gathered the fruit-bodies, took them to 

 the laboratory, moistened their upper surfaces, and put them in a 

 large covered glass dish. During the next two or three days they 

 formed thick white spore-deposits under their pilei, thus proving 

 conclusively that they were still alive and had resumed the function 

 of producing and liberating spores which had been interrupted 

 by the winter's long frost. 



FIG. 41. Polyporus sulphureus. A cluster of imbricated 

 fruit -bodies growing on the dead wood of a living 

 Oak in Sutton Park, Warwickshire. Photographed 

 by J. E. Titley. About T \j natviral size. The 

 cluster was 15 inches wide and 10 inches deep. 



