i68 



RESEARCHES ON FUNGI 



life's energy to collect the food that is destined to contribute to 

 the development, not of their own descendants, but of those of the 

 queen bee and of one of the drones. The neuter bees die of ex- 

 haustion brought on by their foraging expeditions ; but their 

 sacrifice is not in vain, for it is obviously indispensable for the 

 welfare of the hive as a whole and a prime factor in securing the 

 persistence of the hive-bee species, A2ns meUifica, from generation 



Fig. 95. — Coprinus stercorarius. Lateral view of two young fruit-bodies 

 eacli of which developed from a single cell of a mycelial hypha. The 

 hypha at their base has not been repre.sen ted (c/. Fig. 94). B is slightly 

 more advanced in development than A. In both may be distinguished 

 the following parts : the core of the stipe (shaded) ; the core of the pileus 

 (more deeply shaded) ; the volva around the stipe (free hyphae directed 

 upwards) ; and the volva around the pileus (hyphae breaking up into 

 rounded cells which eventually will form a mealy covering to the pileus 

 when the fruit-body is mature). Magnification. 135. The drawings 

 copied by Dr. Nellie Carter from Brefeld's Taf. II in Heft III of his 

 Untersuchungen liber Pilze, and reproduced on a slightly larger scale. 



to generation. Only one of the one hundred united mycelia of 

 C. sterquilinus in a single dung-ball produces a fruit-body, and the 

 other ninety and nine remain sterile and completely exhaust them- 

 selves in supplying the more fortunate mycelium with the necessary 

 food-stuffs ; but, here again, the sacrifice is not in vain, for it is 

 of the greatest advantage to the species : it enables reproduction 

 to take place where otherwise there would be nothing but sterihty, 

 and it thus contributes to the persistence of the species in successive 

 generations. 



The social organisation of Copririus sterquilinus has been com- 

 pared with that of the hive-bee in that certain individuals do not 



