130 RESEARCHES ON FUNGI 



plate of glass, and to it a fruit-body to be tested was pinned. 

 The glass plate was then placed on the ground top of a cylindrical 

 glass jar of 1/25 litres capacity, so that the fruit-body had its 

 natural orientation (cf. Fig. 37, p. 97). A piece of blotting-paper 

 was attached with sealing-wax to the bottom of the jar. 



The fruit-body was first tested in the usual way lvith a beam 

 of light to find out whether spore-discharge was taking place. 

 In all cases a cloud of spores could easily be seen coming from 

 the lower surface. When it had thus been determined that 

 spores were being freely liberated, the glass cover, with the fruit- 

 body attached, was removed, inverted, and placed on a table. 

 Fresh spore-free air was caused to enter the now open jar. By 

 means of a pipette 0-5 cc. of Squibb's ether was then quickly 

 dropped on to the blotting-paper in the jar and the latter 

 immediately inverted over the glass cover, to which it became 

 closely attached by means of vaseline. When a fruit-body is 

 upside down it is unable to liberate any of its spores into the 

 air in a glass chamber. So long, therefore, as the fruit-body 

 was kept inverted, the air in the jar above it remained spore-free. 

 When it was desired to find out whether spores could still be 

 liberated, the anaesthetised fruit-body was turned into the normal 

 position again by means of another inversion of the jar. The air 

 beneath the now downwardly-looking hymenium was then examined 

 for spore contents with a beam of light. It was found that, when 

 the jar was placed upright again two minutes after its first 

 inversion, no spores fell into the air within. The ether vapour, 

 therefore, caused cessation of spore-discharge in two minutes. 



When the ether was added to an upright jar, and the cover, 

 bearing a normally oriented fruit-body, was placed on the top, 

 at first the spore clouds could easily be seen coming off from the 

 underside of the fruit-body with the beam of light ; but the 

 spore stream quickly diminished in density and its emission 

 ceased after about two minutes. The spores which had already 

 entered the jar then spread themselves evenly in the air which 

 it contained. 



When the jar in the first described experiments was placed in 

 the upright position a few minutes after the ether had been 



