THE SPHAEROBOLUS GUN 



291 



years previously, and she sowed them in a culture medium. They 



germinated more slowly 



than newly - discharged 



glebal masses, but - the 



mycelium grew with the 



usual vigour. Recently, 



Miss Walker x sowed on 



agar plates some glebal 



masses of Sphaerobolus 



stellatus which had been 



kept dry in a culture flask 



for eleven years. Of fifteen 



of the glebal masses of one 



strain (her S I) thirteen 



produced a mycelium, and 



of twelve of the glebal 



masses of another (her S II) 



two produced a mycelium. 



She has thus proved that 



the glebal masses of *S r . 



stellatus, when dry, may 



retain their vitality for 



upwards of ten years. 



My own observations 

 on the retention of vitality 

 by dried glebal masses of 

 S. stellatus serve to con- 

 firm those of Miss Walker. 

 In December, 1923, I 

 placed a number of dry 

 glebal masses in a test- 

 tube which was closed with 

 a cork. At the end of 

 January, 1929, i.e. after 

 five years and nearly two 

 months, one of the glebal masses was placed in a hanging drop of 



1 L. B. Walker, in litt., Feb., 1929. 



Fig. 144. — Sphaerobolus stellatus. Hyphae 

 from the radiating mycelium produced 

 by a germinating glebal mass (cf. Fig. 143). 

 Terminal parts of hyphae ; A, B, and 

 C about 50 hours after the glebal mass 

 was placed in water ; and D 75 hours 

 after. The hyphae all show clamp - 

 connexions c c and were therefore in the 

 diploid nuclear condition. In D the 

 two hyphae a a and b b have anastomosed 

 with one another in three places. Drawn 

 by A. H. R. Buller and Ruth Macrae. 

 Magnification, 380. 



