328 



RESEARCHES ON FUNGI 



very large. The eight ascospores of each ascus have thick gelatinous 

 outer walls, and adhere firmly together both before discharge and 



when being shot 

 through the air. The 

 projectile — an aggre- 

 gate of eight spores 

 surrounded by a film 

 of ascus-sap — is oval in 

 form, about 0-3 mm. 

 long, and 0-15 to 

 0-2 mm. wide ; and it 

 can be shot directly 

 upwards 10 inches or 

 occasionally 14 inches. ^ 

 In respect to A . immer- 

 sus no one, as yet, has 

 heard either the sound 

 of an ascus exploding 

 or the sound of the pro- 

 jectile striking another 

 object ; but it is prob- 

 able that both these 

 sounds might be de- 

 tected by an attentive 

 listener. 



Type IV : Peziza. — 



In Peziza, Aleuria 



(Fig. 140, p. 293), 



Galactinia (Fig. 147, 



p. 306), Pustularia, 



etc., the ascus contains 



eight spores, as in Asco- 



bolus immersus ; but the 



eight spores separate 



from one another as soon as they are shot out of the ascus (Vol. I, 



Fig. 78, p. 236). There are many tens of thousands of asci in each 



1 Tliese Researches, Vol. I, 1909, p. 252. 



Fk;. 103. — Helvetia crispa. Anton de Bary records 

 (1884) that he heard a very percejjtible liissing 

 sound wlien largo specimens of tliis fungus puffed 

 vigorously. Photograpliod by A. E. Peck at 

 Scarborougli, England. Natural size. 



