THE PHALLOIDE^ OF CEYLON. 163 



soon after expansion, but perfect examples are easily obtained 

 by allowing it to develop under a bell glass in the laboratory. 

 Under such conditions, though in a constantly saturated 

 atmosphere, all expand during the night, and this rule was not 

 altered by keeping them in a dark room subject only to a faint 

 red light. 



Unexpanded specimens are white or brownish, up to 8 mm. 

 in diameter, smooth, arising singly or in clusters from a 

 network of white strands, up to 5 mm. diameter, which 

 adheres to the substratum. These strands contain the well- 

 known sphaero-crystals of calcium oxalate which in this case 

 are about 20 fi in diameter. The volva splits irregularly at the 

 apex and remains as a cup with the edges closely applied to 

 the lower portion of the net. 



Expanded specimens are up to 2'5 cm. high and 15 cm. 

 broad. The basal i^ortion of the receptaculum shows con- 

 siderable variation : sometimes it consists of a uniformly 

 conical tube which divides above into the primary arms of 

 the net, while in other cases it forms a uniformly narrow tube, 

 5 mm. long and 2 mm. in diameter, which expands abruptly into 

 a shallow saucer-shaped structure from which the arms arise. 

 In the latter case the receptaculum is distinctly stalked. The 

 primary arms of the net are from four to six in number, and 

 after a short distance divide into a wide meshed network with 

 from ten to eighteen roughly pentagonal meshes. The 

 branches of the net are hollow and have a single continuous 

 chamber : the surface towards the interior of the net is 

 rounded, the outer surface is flat, but with a solid projecting 

 flange extending from either side almost to the centre and 

 making the branches appear grooved externally. A cross 

 section of a branch is semicircular with converging projections 

 at either end of the flat side. Perforations are more common 

 on the inner side than on the outer. The arms of the net are 

 about 1 mm. broad. 



The spore masses are collected at the node's of the net. Each 

 node bears on its inner surface a raised area, which is more or 

 less triangular in a plane parallel to that through the three 

 branches which meet at the node, the sides of the triangle 

 being at right angles to the branches. This raised area forms 



