SPHAEROBOLACEAE 147 



IVtri. Flora Italicacryptogama (Gasterales, fasc. 5: 135, fig. 83. 1909. 



QttClet Champ. Juract Vosg., pt. 2, pi. 3, fig. 2. 1873. 



Kabinowitsch. Bcitr. zur Entwickclungsgeschichte der FluchlkArper einigcr Gastromycetcn. Flora 



79: 385-418. 1894. 

 Schroctor. In Cohn's Krypt-FL Schlesien 3, pt. 1: 688. 1889. 

 Sowerby. Engl. Fungi 1: pi. 22 (as LyCOperdon carpobolus). 



Walker ami Andersen. Relation of Glycogen to Spore-ejection. Mycologia 17: 154, pi. 18. 1925. 

 Walker. Development and Mechanism of Discharge in Spliacrobolus idttiensis n. sp. and S. stdlatus 



Tode. Journ. E. M. Sci. Soc. 42: 151, pis. 16-25. 1927. 



Sphaerobolus stellatus Tode 

 5. carpobolus (L.) Schroeter 

 Carpobolus stdlatus (Mich.) Desm. 



Plates 82 and 117 



Plants arising from within the soft wood or bark, and pressing through to expose 

 its upper surface or the greater part; subspherical, about 1.5-2 mm. thick, at first dull 

 ochraceous from the surface color, then whitish from the cracking of this superficial 

 layer into flakes; soon after exposure the little sphere opens at the top in most cases 

 by four to seven stellate lobes and the outer, translucent-white layer (receptaculum) 

 of the gleba suddenly reverses itself outward and throws the little central flattish ball 

 containing the spores to a distance of several feet (Miss Walker reports a height throw of 

 over 14 feet). The reversed and evaginated receptaculum now appears as a watery 

 white sphere sitting on the lobes of the outer peridium. The ejected ball is slippery, 

 smooth and very dark chestnut brown, looking like a miniature horse chestnut seed. 

 Within it is divided into sections by delicate walls and in these areas are borne the 

 oblong basidia, 4-4.8/* thick, with four to six, rarely eight (up to nine in Pillay's form), 

 sessile spores. According to Miss Walker, these areas are never cavernous in their 

 development, and there is no definite hymenium. She gives the following cytological 

 facts for S. stellatus. All cells of the fruit body are binucleate; the two nuclei fuse in the 

 young basidium; the fusion nucleus divides to form 4-8; the nuclear walls disappear ; 

 the chromatin center of a nucleus enters each spore, and where there are less than 8 

 spores, some of these granules are left behind; the young spores are uninucleate, the 

 older ones may be binucleate. 



Spores smooth, unevenly oblong, 3.7-4.8 x 7.4-10^. Mixed with the spores are 

 certain irregular densely filled cells (gemmae) formed by the hyphae which are also 

 capable of sprouting to form new threads. The entire ball of the gleba is said (Fischer) 

 to sprout without breaking up, sending out many hyphae from the gemmae and spores 

 within. For references to illustrations and literature see under the genus. 



Misses Walker and Andersen give evidence that the discharge of the bolus in 

 Sphaerobolus is due to the rapid transformation of glycogen into sugars, followed by a 

 great increase in osmotic pressure in the cells of the peridium. Miss Walker has grown 

 four forms of Sphaerobolus in pure culture and obtained abundant fruiting. Her last 

 paper gives further details of structure and behavior and proposes a new variety of 5. 

 stellatus and a new species. We are including her descriptions of these below. 



5112. On decaying oak log, May 16, 1922. 

 5204. On rotten deciduous wood, June 22, 1922. 

 7530. On decorticated pine board, Sept. 23, 1924. 



Asheville. Beardslee. 



"Carolina." (Schw. Herb.). 

 Pennsylvania. Bethlehem. iSchw. Herb.). 



