156 FETCH : 



until July 4, by which time it had become so overgrown that 

 it could be left no longer ; after weeding it on this date it was 

 again left untouched until October 26. During this time I 

 obtained 119 specimens from the bed and the surrounding 

 unfenced lawn, that is, from a circle of about 10 yards radius. 

 Some of the specimens from the protected bed showed a 

 diminution in the honeycomb attachment of the net to the 

 stalk, and thereby came nearer D. phalloidea, but they were 

 all undoubted D. irpicina. It is unfortunate that all our 

 specimens appear in a locality which cannot be left untouched. 

 The interruption in the middle of the experiment was un- 

 avoidable in a " show" garden, but apparently it did not 

 affect the result, which furnishes no support to the idea that 

 D. irpicina is an " immature " form. 



It is evident from the times of appearance of the specimens 

 seen during these six months that they do not appear during 

 the heavy rains, but during tlie periods of light showers, or 

 even dry weatlier, which succeed them. Roughly, the crop 

 of Dictyophora follows about three weeks after the heavy 

 rains. It seems probable that the explanation is that the 

 ' ' egg " can only develop during the very wet weather. If this 

 is so, then the time of formation of the " egg " is about three 

 weeks. Cobb (Diseases of Sugar Cane) estimates the period 

 of formation of the " egg " of Ithyphallus coralloides at about 

 twelve months. It is quite impossible that the " egg " should 

 survive the baking which the lawns undergo in the dry months 

 of January and February. The rainfall at Peradeniya during 

 January and February, 1907, was '99 and r69 inches respec- 

 tively ; it is unlikely that the Dictyophora egg would survive 

 this drought, as it must be within an inch of the surface, and 

 the places where it grows are, as a rule, absolutely without 

 any shade whatever. Consequently it may be assumed that 

 we begin with a clear field in March. 



The following summarizes the records of rainfall and the 

 appearance of Dictyophora irpicina. The rainfall of March, 

 6"01 inches on 19 days, produces the crop of the beginning of 

 April , and the April rainfall continues it into May. Specimens 

 still appear in May after fourteen days without rain, the result 

 of the rainfall at the end of April and the beginning of May. 



