332 



RESEARCHES ON FUNGI 



I put the fruit-body which had already puffed to my ear ; it puffed 

 again ; and I distinctly heard the puffing which was like a rush of 

 steam from a minute jet. I tried some of the other fruit-bodies 

 with a similar result, and Mr. W. B. Grove who was examining the 

 fungi with me confirmed my observations. In the course of the 

 next two days, the puffing of the Pustularia fruit-bodies was dis- 

 tinctly heard by Miss E. M. Wakefield and by Dr. T. Fetch. The 

 little cups puffed each morning when the box was opened, for six 



consecutive days. If one 

 puts a Pustularia cup to one's 

 ear, when it puffs one can not 

 only hear the sound of the 

 puffing but also feel the spray 

 from the asci as though the 

 ear were being sprayed by 

 a fine atomiser. When the 

 fungus is close to an ear, the 

 puffing can be heard even when 

 the room is not quiet and 

 one is talking to friends. 

 Using the method just described I have succeeded in hearing 

 the puffing of the following species : 



Fig. 166. — Fruit-bodies of Pustularia 

 catinus. They puff audibly. A, a 

 whole fruit-body. B, a median- 

 vertical section ; h, the hymenium. 

 Copied by A. H. R. Buller from 

 Boudier's Icones Mycologicae, Tome 

 II, PI. 336. Natural size. 



Aleuria repanda, 

 Aleuria vesiculosa, 

 Ascobolus stercorarius, 

 Caloscypha fulgens, 

 Ciliaria scutellata, 

 Galactinia badia, 

 Peziza aurantia, 

 Pseudoplectania nigrella, 



Pustularia catinus, 

 Pyronema confluens, 

 Rhizina inflata, 

 Sarcoscypha protracta, 

 Sarcosphaera coronaria, 

 Urnula Craterium, 

 Urnula geaster. 



Aleuria repanda puffs audibly in the same manner as Pustularia 

 catinus. I gathered one of its fruit-bodies from an old log in a wood 

 at Kenora on the Lake of the Woods, took it to Winnipeg, placed 

 it in a closed glass dish, and kept it there undisturbed for 24 hours. 

 I then took the cover from the dish, picked up the fruit-body, and 

 at once placed it close to my ear. Immediately thereafter the fruit- 



