326 RESEARCHES ON FUNGI 



The vertical distance of discharge was found by E. Fischer x to be 

 up to and over one metre. As we shall see, all these estimates were 

 far too low. 



In what follows we shall consider seriatim three sets of range 

 experiments made respectively : (1) by myself on S. stellatus growing 

 on boards obtained at Kenora on the Lake of the Woods (Ontario) ; 

 (2) by Miss Leva Walker on S. stellatus and its variety giganteus and 

 on S. iowensis — all of U.S.A. origin ; and (3) by myself on S. stellatus 

 growing on cow dung at Winnipeg. In connexion with the last 

 set of experiments, an artificial method for discharging a Sphaero- 

 bolus gun will be described. 



The Range of Sphaerobolus stellatus of Kenora Origin. — Dean 

 E. M. Freeman of the University of Minnesota informed me that he 

 once had a piece of wood bearing Sphaerobolus fruit -bodies upon a 

 table in a room and that, whenever one of the little guns went off, 

 he could distinctly hear the projectile strike the ceiling. Stimulated 

 by this astonishing statement I determined to measure the range of 

 the Sphaerobolus gun for myself. For several seasons I was unable 

 to do this owing to lack of the necessary fungus material. However, 

 in September, 1920, I found a few Sphaerobolus fruit-bodies upon 

 a board in a wood at Kenora on the Lake of the Woods ; and I put 

 them, along with the woody substratum to which they were attached, 

 in a cardboard box and took them to my hotel. The next morning, 

 at 11 a.m., I opened the box and found that four of the fruit-bodies 

 had already discharged their projectiles and that a fifth had opened 

 stellately {cf. d, e, in Fig. 160, p. 315). Bearing Freeman's observa- 

 tions in mind, I placed this fifth fruit-body on my dressing-table so 

 that the mouth of the little cup looked directly upwards. After 

 waiting and watching for about an hour, I suddenly saw the inner 

 membranes turn inside out and appear above the cup like a 

 beautiful pearl (cf. f, g, h, in Fig. 160) ; and I distinctly heard a 

 little bang as the gun was discharged. The gleba had disappeared. 

 I therefore stood upon the dressing-table and looked for it. I 

 quickly found it adhering to the ceiling above my head and at a 

 height of 5 feet 11-5 inches above the fruit-body which had dis- 

 charged it. Thus was confirmed Freeman's observation that in a 

 1 E. Fischer, " Die Entwicklungsgeschichte der Gastromyceten," loc. cit. 



