THE SPHAEROBOLUS GUN 



305 



it forming the glebal mass. The gleba (b) still shows the partition 

 walls of its numerous chambers. The glebal chambers contain 

 great numbers of spores and a less number of gemmae and cystidia. 

 At this stage of development the basidium-bodies have all dis- 

 appeared, but the fat cells, which will be described later (Fig. 159) 

 have not yet liberated their 

 contents destined to form 

 the fatty matrix in which 

 the spores, gemmae, and 

 cystidia are shortly to be- 

 come embedded. The fruit- 

 body developed in such a 

 way that its apex came to 

 face the incident rays of 

 light the direction of which 

 is indicated by the arrows. 



In Fig. 151, hyphae 

 which doubtless conduct 

 food-materials to the de- 

 veloping gleba can be seen 

 occupying passage-ways in 

 the gelatinous layer at c 

 and in the palisade layer 

 at d. The position of these 

 passage-ways is brought out 

 more clearly in Figs. 152 

 and 153. 



Fig. 152 resembles Fig. 

 151 but is shaded diagram- 



matically with a view to emphasising the position of the passage- 

 ways from the mycelium a to the developing gleba b. The 

 gelatinous layer, no. 2, and the palisade layer, no. 5, are highly 

 specialised in structure and function and are unsuited for conduct- 

 ing food-materials. The passage-ways through them, occupied by 

 radially disposed ordinary hyphae, can be seen at c c and above the 

 arrows respectively. 



Glebal masses, after discharge, as already described, are en- 

 voi., v. x 



Fig. 152. — Sphaerobolus stellatus. Vertical 

 section through a fruit-body and its 

 underlying mycelium (the same as in 

 Fig. 151), shaded diagrammatically to 

 show more clearly the position of the 

 passage-ways in the peridium. The 

 passage-ways, c c, are in the gelatinous 

 layer (no. 2), while the passage-ways in the 

 palisade layer (no. 5) and the thin pseudo- 

 parenchymatous layer (no. 6) are indicated 

 by arrows which point to them. Hyphae 

 pass through the passage-ways from the 

 mycelium a to the developing gleba b. 

 Drawn by A. H. R. Buller and Ruth 

 Macrae. Magnification, 23. 



