328 



RESEARCHES ON FUNGI 



of a few weeks to fruit-bodies of Stropharia semiglobuta ; and one 

 such fruit-body is shown attached to its dung-ball in Fig. 114. 



It seems clear, therefore, that 

 the spores of the Stropharia 

 must have found their way 

 into the dung-balls bypassing 

 down the alimentary canal 

 with the hay. 



A fuller explanation of 

 the spontaneous development 

 of the fruit-bodies on the 

 dung-balls is as follows. The 

 fungus comes up in the 

 summer on dung dropped 

 by herbivorous animals upon 

 their grazing grounds . Hence 

 the spores liberated from the 

 pilei, after being carried by 

 the wind, settle upon, and 

 become adherent to, the 

 surrounding grass. The grass 

 in due time is made into hay 

 and in this state is fed to 

 horses in Winnipeg during 

 the winter. The horses 

 swallow the spores with their 

 fodder, but the spores resist 

 the action of the digestive 

 juices and are in no way 

 injured during their passage 

 through the alimentary canal. 

 The spores therefore become 

 embedded in the dung-balls 



which, W T hen dropped in the 



. i j 



intensely COld air upon the 



f rr)7f > n ^nnw of flip strppt=5 



DS ' 



freeze in the course of a 



FIG. 114. Strojjharia scmiglobata. Photo- 

 graph of a fruit-body grown on sterilised 

 horse dung. Spores were being actively 

 liberated under a bell-jar and some of 

 them have settled on the annulus. 



Natural size. 



