OF CERTAIN TERMITE NESTS. 207 



however is in agreement with the behaviour of homologous 

 structures connected with other agarics below. Nor is there 

 ever an injured sphere. If they are eaten by the termites — 

 and there is hardly any doubt of this — they must be con- 

 sumed at one bite. From this standpoint it is scarcely 

 probable that the termites would leave a structure which 

 Doflein says is just a mouthful until it formed a sack of loose 

 spores. 



Doflein (13) relates that he found great difficulty in wetting 

 the comb, and therefore supposes that the termite secretion 

 waterproofs both the comb and the nest. When a comb is 

 covered with hyphse water naturally runs off it in drops, but 

 I have never found any difficulty in moistening the actual 

 comb substance or the earth of the nest. 



The Agaric. 



An agaric which grew from termite nests was collected by 

 Gardner at Peradeniya in 1844. This species is the chief 

 edible fungus of Ceylon, and on that account there is some 

 difficulty in procuring perfect specimens, since the native who 

 gathers them for food does not trouble to dig out the stalk, 

 and unfortunately he does not overlook many. 



Gardner says that they grow sometimes from a depth of 

 4 feet, and Holtermann gives a depth of 1 metre : the 

 majority of my specimens have been from combs 25 cms. or 

 less below the surface. It generally appears within a few feet 

 of the low chimneys of an underground nest of Termes rede- 

 manni or Termes ohscuriceps, but it is often found in places 

 where there is no outward indication of a termite nest. As 

 Holtermann (7) states, the agaric indicates the nest, or 

 rather that comb of it which has arrived at the stage at which 

 agarics are produced. 



I have not yet found it connected with a mound nest, though 

 the termites and their other fungi are identical with those 

 entirely underground. It may be that the latter are some- 

 times damper or that the agaric is 'unable to pierce the thick, 



9(8)06 (15) 



