OF CERTAIN TERMITE NESTS. 209 



sometimes a bulbous swelling at this point. The black 

 rooting base is horny externally and tapers to a diameter 

 of about 2 millimetres. When it is found in contact with 

 the comb it terminates in a small brown solid campanulate 

 swelling (fig. 14), but one often finds on digging down to the 

 comb chamber that the termites have eaten off the connection 

 with the comb, and the stalk terminates in a slender black 

 thread at the wall of the cavity. 



The spores are pink, elliptic with a sublateral apiculus, 

 8- 10 x 4-5 i-i : immature spores may be sub-globose, and 6-7 it 

 diameter. The basidia are 28-33 p long, 8 p diameter near 

 the apex, narrowing to 4-5 p at the base, clavate; the cystidia 

 are pear-shaped, 27-40 /x long, 14-19 ^ diameter at the widest 

 part, and 6-7 fi diameter at the base. 



The above is the form described by Berkeley, first as Lenti- 

 mis cartilagineus , and later as Collybia svarsibarbis. 



The first indication of the agaric on the comb is a small 

 white patch, from 1 to 3 millimetres in diameter, com- 

 posed of erect, rather thick- walled hypha) which have a dia- 

 meter of 4-5 m when they emerge from the comb but increase 

 rapidly to 6-8 /j. and terminate in clavate heads 10-12 /.i 

 in diameter. As growth proceeds, other hypha? are added 

 exteriorly and a conical mound is formed. The hypha? in the 

 centre arise perpendicularly from the comb, but some of the 

 oblique exterior ones appear to be continuous with the super- 

 ficial sphere-producing mycelium. 



The developing agaric grows in all cases to a height of 1-2 

 centimetres. It is then a brownish -white, somewhat co- 

 nical, tomentose column , 3-5 mm. in diameter. The exteriorly- 

 pointing hypha? end for the most part in spherical spore -like 

 heads, resembling: the spherical "conidia" of the "sphere." 

 The interior hypha? tend to separate into short cells, and the 

 column therefore breaks readily at any point. The apex 

 becomes black. 



Examples of this stage may be found in abundance on 

 digging down to combs which have produced agarics. In some 



