Dacryomyces deliquescens.. A. H. R. Buller. 227 
often appear on the surface of wood in groups by themselves. 
Sometimes, however, patches of red and patches of yellow fruit- 
bodies appear near to one another on the same piece of wood 
but not intermingled; and, finally, sometimes red and yellow 
fruit-bodies appear on wood intermingled promiscuously. Ac- 
cording to Tulasne, yellow fruit-bodies may be found, which 
have red spots upon them or which are gradually changing into 
red fruit-bodies*. The reason for these variations in the dis- 
tribution of the two kinds of fruit-body under natural conditions 
is not yet understood, but the production of one kind of fruit- 
body rather than another doubtless depends on the physiological 
condition—possibly the nuclear state—of the underlying 
myceliumf. 
An orange fruit-body has a gelatinous matrix derived from 
the swollen outer confluent hyphal walls, and this matrix, while 
firm toward its centre, is more and more readily deliquescent 
in wet weather as one passes toward its periphery. A fruit-body 
consists of two parts—an inner, firmer, paler core attached to 
the substratum, and an outer, more softly gelatinous, thick, 
bright orange, exterior coating. The core contains pale, thin, 
branched, anastomosing hyphae which run toward the periphery 
of the fruit-body and there thicken and give rise to branched 
chains of pale orange oidia. Thus the thick orange outer coating 
of the fruit-body comes to be made up of oidia which are 
embedded in very soft jelly, and its colour is entirely due to the 
colour of the oidia. The oidia consist of one or two cells and 
show all stages of detachment from one another. Those on the 
very exterior of the fruit-body sometimes produce tiny conidia 
which project into the air. When rain comes, the outer part 
of the orange oidial zone deliquesces, i.e. the jelly absorbs so 
much water that it becomes liquid and flows. Thus during rain 
a large number of the outer oidia are washed away from the 
fruit-body and become dispersed. However, the production of 
oidia by the hyphae of the core is long continued so that new 
oidia gradually take the place of those previously washed away. 
It thus appears that the orange fruit-bodies are specialised for 
producing oidia and do not as a rule give rise to any basidio- 
spores. 
A yellow fruit-body, like a red one, has a soft gelatinous 
matrix derived from the swollen outer confluent hyphal walls. 
This matrix contains and envelops slender, branching, anasto- 
mosing hyphae which, toward the periphery of the fruit-body, 
branch and re-branch to produce the basidia which make up the 
* L. R. Tulasne, loc. cit., pp. 216-218, Pl. 13, fig. 2. 
t+ Cf. P. A. Dangeard, Mémoire sur la reproduction sexuelle des Basidio- 
mycétes, Le Botaniste, t. Iv, 1895, pp. 136-143. 
