THE president's ADDRESS. 59 



those flowering plants where cross-fertilisation is effected by 

 insects. The Phalloideae are most abundant in tropical regions. 

 In Britain the group is represented by three species, two of 

 which — the large stinkhorn [Phallus impitdicus) and the smaller 

 stinkhorn [JliUinus caninus) — are fairly common throughout 

 the country, whereas the third, the latticed fungus (Clathrus 

 cancellatus) is only met with on rare occasions in two or three 

 southern counties. The smell in all species is very penetrating, 

 and from the ordinary human standpoint intensely disgusting, 

 although not objected to by flies and other insects, who pick 

 up the scent and gravitate in great numbers towards its 

 source, where they find a greenish dripping gluten, very sweet 

 to the taste and containing the exceedingly minute spores 

 imbedded in its substance. This mucus along with the contained 

 spores is greedily eaten by the flies, and by this means the spores 

 are distributed far and wide. In the most highly organised 

 members of the Phalloideae, very varied and beautiful con- 

 trivances are present, serving ;as a platform for insects while 

 partaking of their feast. These platforms are so arranged that 

 the sweet mucus, trickling from the cap where it is produced, 

 flows over their entire surface, thus aflfording standing room 

 for more insects than if the mucus remained on the com- 

 paratively small cap. 



In one species {Bictyophora daemonwni) the fungus has a 

 stout erect stalk four or five inches long, bearing at its tip 

 the mucus and spore-producing c^p. Springing from the stem 

 just below the cap is a very beautiful network-structure 

 fashioned like a lady's skirt or rather a crinoline, which widens 

 out downwards and reaches almost to the ground. On to this 

 crinoline the mucus spreads in every direction. In our latticed 

 fungus the portion smeared with mucus is bright red, and 

 resembles a hollow globe having a wall of network, the globe 

 being about three inches in diameter. In other kinds variously 

 branched coral-like appendages receive the mucus. 



The subject of parasitic fungi is so extensive that an extended 

 series of talks would be necessary to make clear even the broad 

 outlines of the study, which embraces members belonging to 

 every family of fungi, the individuals varying in size from the 

 •ephemeral microscopic mildews and rusts to the large woody 

 structures, resembling inverted brackets, which grow upon and 



