HARDYVICKE'S SC IEN CE- GO S S I P. 



2?5 



THE ORANGE PEZIZA. 



rpHE following account of the fructification of a 

 -7" fungus may, I think, prove interesting to some 

 of the readers of Science-Gossip, if they are as un- 

 acquainted with the process as I was myself; but I 

 must, from the commencement, start with the proviso 

 that the language need not be scientific, for I have 

 never made fungi a study ; the circumstances even 

 which led me to examine the specimen now under 

 consideration being for the most part accidental. 



Taking a country walk a few days ago, I was 

 struck by noticing a large number of an orange- 

 coloured fungus growing between the stones of a 

 newly-made macadamized road, some small, others 

 reaching to about two inches across, the colour 

 usually being as near that of a carrot as possible, 

 the shape, when full-grown, something like a human 

 ear. 



Fig. 137. Peziza aurantia, nat. size. 



I collected about half a dozen, and having an 

 aquarium with a ledge above the water for ferns, 

 &c, I thought a few would not look unornamental 

 in it. Accordingly, I brought them home, and 

 safely deposited them on the aforesaid ledge of 

 the aquarium, which, by the way, is covered over 

 with two sheets of glass. 



The following day they were left undisturbed ; but, 

 the day after, I lifted the glass off to look at them , 

 when I was surprised to see the largest suddenly 

 enveloped in what appeared to be a cloud of steam ; 

 but it immediately struck me that no doubt it was 

 by some means ejecting its spores, and that the 

 secondary cause of the ejection was the gentle rush 

 of air occasioned by removing the glass. To see if 

 this were the case, I blew upon another, and found 

 that about a second after I had blown it showered 

 out, if I may so say, in all directions, chiefly round 

 the edge, which was probably the ripest part. I did 

 this repeatedly, and found that, after they had been 

 left live minutes or so, the same effect followed about 

 a second after they had been, blown upon ; and what 

 surprised me still more was, that several time 



t 



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■ 



Fig. 158. Ascus and 

 Sporidia x 320. 



the "shower" in issuing forth made a distinct sound, 

 which I cannot better describe than as a slight 

 " fizz." To put the matter beyond doubt, I called 

 another witness, who agreed 

 with me that there was not 

 the slightest doubt about 

 the " shower " or the sound. 

 The question now arises, 

 how is the sound caused ? — 

 by the rushing of the — I 

 think I may safely say — mil- 

 lions of spores through the 

 air ? — by the friction occa- 

 sioned by their exit ? — or by 

 the prime cause that com- 

 pels them thus to issue 

 forth ? 



Before putting them under 

 the microscope there is one 

 other curious fact to notice, 



and that is, that after dark I could not obtain any 

 "showers." This might be attributed to my not 

 being able to distinguish the spores by gas-light ; 

 but this was not the case, for during the day, after 

 blowing, I put a glass slide over them, and obtained 

 countless spores on it. But at night I repeatedly 

 tried the whole of the fungi, and never collected a 

 single spore ; nor have I in the morning ; the best 

 time for the phenomenon seeming to be the after- 

 noon, I suppose on account of its being the 

 warmest and brightest part of the day ; but they 

 do not appear to like either too much heat or too 

 much damp, but a medium quantity. I will not fill 

 up space by narrating how 1 came to this conclusion. 



Having collected a great number of spores on 

 a glass slide, by placing it over the fungus after 

 blowing (the spores being often thrown to the 

 height of an inch or more), I put them under the 

 microscope with a rather powerful object-glass, and 

 found them to consist of minute oval particles, 

 varying in length, as far as I could make out, from 



— '— to 



of an inch, filled with other minute 



•JOUti •^ i> 4 O ( ) 



particles. The formation of each spore was more 

 apparent after they were mounted in Canada bal- 

 sam and viewed through the polariscope, when each 

 was seen to consist of two distinct granules, united 

 together with, and surrounded by, a transparent 

 covering. 



Afterwards I examined a thin section of the 

 fungus itself, and saw that the greater part of the 

 interior was composed of the spores arranged in 

 long lubes, the spores being not exactly end to end 

 but slightly slanting, as would be the case if eggs 

 were placed in a tube somewhat too large for them. 

 These tubes terminated in slight hollow eminences 

 on the surface, through the mouths of which the 

 spores were ejected. What I wished to discover, 

 but could not, although I examined them intently 

 for two hours, was the prime cause of their ejection. 



