THE PHALLOIDE^ OF CEYLON. 157 



June has a heavy rainfall, 12'36 inches on 13 days, and con- 

 sequently specimens appear later in the dry weather towards 

 the end of the month, and some belated ones at the beginning 

 of July. July has 9" 20 inches of rain on 24 days, but no 

 specimens appear until the end of the month, when they occur 

 in abundance. This shows that those which began to develop 

 in the early part of June had all ripened by the beginning of 

 July. The distributed rainfall of July produces more specimens 

 (in July and August) than the heavier, but more restricted, 

 rainfall of June. The rainfall at the beginning of August 

 carries on the production of Dictyophora into the dry weather 

 of September, when they again cease : there is a solitary 

 specimen on September 29, but this was protected by a 

 rose bush. Though the end of September and the beginning 

 of October were wet, there was no appearance of Dictyophora 

 until the middle of October. Full details are given in the 

 accompanying table. The specimens were collected between 

 8 and 9 a.m., and the rainfall was measured at 9.30 a.m. 

 The figures for the latter, therefore, give the rainfall for the 

 previous twenty-four hours. 



A group consisting of an expanded specimen and three eggs, 

 attached to the same mycelium, was gathered at 9 a.m. The 

 wall of each egg was already split, in two cases by single 

 fissures extending over the apex and half way down to the 

 base, and in the third by two similar fissures at right angles 

 to each other. The jelly was only slightly cracked. They 

 were planted at once in damp sand and covered with a bell 

 glass, but no further expansion occurred during the time 

 they were under observation, viz., until 11 p.m. All three 

 expanded during the night before 5.30 a.m. The case is 

 interesting in showing the length of time which may elapse 

 between the rupture of the volva and the beginning of 

 expansion. 



When the fungus first expands it is visited by myriads of 

 the common wine fly {Agromyza, sp.), which is always found on 

 decaying fruits. An ant, Cremogaster biroi, Mayr., has also 

 been found on this fungus in numbers, probably attracted by 

 other insects, and on one occasion a butterfly, Mycalesis 

 mandata, was observed on the cap. 



