THE president's ADDRESS. 



255 



that their spores, when mature, are ejected with some force to a 

 distance, not individually, but the entire mass of spores produced 

 in an ascus or sporangium. 



Now, if we imagine the dung of some herbivorous animal 

 deposited in a pasture, and in due time becoming covered with 

 fungi, it follows that when the mature spore masses are ejected, 

 many such alight on the surrounding herbage. The mucilage ac- 

 companying the spores sets firmly, and becomes insoluble in water 

 when exposed to the air ; thus the tiny spore-masses remain firmly 

 attached to the grass until it is eaten by some animal, when the 

 spores commence to germinate in the alimentary canal, are then 





'^<§i^:k-^ 



/.? 



Fig. I. 



Fig. II. 



deposited along with the dung, and afterwards continue their 

 development, until finally the spores are shed on the grass, to be 

 again swallowed by some animal. 



By this remarkable modification and adaptation to a narrow 

 set of conditions, these tiny, but beautiful, fungi are dispersed. 

 These tiny spore-masses have been found on dead grass in the 

 neighbourhood of heaps of dung in the spring, having been 

 deposited the previous season. Such spores germinate readily on 

 being passed through the body of an animal, and it is probably 

 due to such spore-laden grass being eaten by herbivorous animals 

 in the early spring, that the first crop of fungi occurring on the 

 dung is secured. 



