THE SOUND MADE BY FUNGUS GUNS 331 



immediately heard a hiss. The hiss was quite distinct, and required 

 no effort to hear it, although I was fullj^ six feet from the plants. 

 Mr. Stone's experience occurred to me and, placing my six specimens 

 in a row, I sat for some time watching my miniature field-battery 

 at work. First one fired (puffed), followed by the report (hiss), 

 then another carried on, the others following in their turn at intervals 

 of not more than two or three minutes. I noticed as the time passed 

 that the intervals between the puffs increased in length. What 

 surprised me was the frequency with which the fruit-bodies 

 puffed." 



The late Professor E. J. Durand of the University of Minnesota, 

 who studied the Discomycetes for many years, informed me that 

 incidentally, in the course of his work, he had heard the puffing of 

 the fruit-bodies of several species, among which were : 



Aleuria repanda, Sarcoscypha coccinea (Fig. 165), 



Aleuria vesiculosa, Sclerotinia tuberosa. 



A Simple Method for Rendering Audible the Puffing of 

 Discomycetes. — I have discovered that the puffing of any Dis- 

 comycete can be readily heard, if one listens to it in a particular 

 manner which is now to be described ; and this discovery was com- 

 municated to the British Mycological Society during the Minehead 

 Foray in October, 1920.1 



On August 7, 1920, in the company of Mr. W. B. Grove, I visited 

 Queen's Cottage Grounds, Kew Gardens, and there found several 

 cup-like fruit-bodies of Puslularia catinus (Holms.) Fuck. (Fig. 166). 

 These were put in a small cardboard box where they remained 

 during the night. The next morning the box was taken to the Kew 

 Herbarium and there opened for the purpose of identifying the 

 fruit-bodies which it contained. At once one of the fruit-bodies 

 puffed, and a cloud of white spores could be seen escaping from the 

 hymenium. I heard nothing, but I thought of the sound one hears 

 when one places a sea-shell against one's ear, and I wondered whether 

 or not I should be able to hear the puffing of the Pustularia if I put 

 one of its little cups to my ear. No sooner thought of than done. 



1 The Minehead Foray, Trans. Brit. Mycol. Soc, Vol. VIT, 1921, p. 4. 



