316 



RESEARCHES ON FUNGI 



peridial cup and all changes took place normally. Thus it was 

 clearly demonstrated that the glebal mass plays no part in producing 

 the discharge. 



" That the outer peridial region takes no part in causing the 



Fig. 161. — Sphaerobolus stellatus. A, a diagram of a fruit- 

 body which has opened stellately and is about to dis- 

 charge its projectile ; c, a space between the outer fixed 

 and the inner eversible sets of membranes into which one 

 can insert the pointed end of a pin and so cause the pro- 

 jectile to be discharged. B, a median-vertical section 

 through A, showing : a, the fixed outer set of mem- 

 branes ; b, the eversible inner set of membranes ; c, the 

 space between the two sets of membranes ; d, the gleba ; 

 and e, liquid surrounding the gleba in the cup. C, the 

 inner eversible set of membranes after removal from a 

 fruit-body ; o, the orange-coloured upper part ; y, the 

 yellowish -white lower part. D, the same as C, but 

 directly after eversion. About ten times the natural 

 size. 



discharge is quite evident from the following facts : first, that before 

 the discharge takes place the inner and the outer peridial parts 

 separate from each other in the sinuses of the notches until a needle 

 point may easily be inserted. This removes the possibility that gas 

 formation between the peridial layers is in any way responsible 

 for the discharge. Second, there are no morphological structures 

 suggestive of such a function. 



