no RESEARCHES ON FUNGI 



fruit-body of Dtedalea unicolor, kept dry for two years and six 

 months, recovered in about four hours, but another fruit-body of 

 the same species, kept dry for four years, recovered in about 7*5 

 hours. This observation indicates that those fruit-bodies which 

 have been kept longest in the desiccated condition are the slowest 

 to revive. 



All the fruit-bodies tested were found to retain their vitality 

 for several months, some of them for more than two years, and one, 

 namely, Diedalea unicolor, for more than four years. Only in a few 

 species, owing to lack of material old enough, has it been possible 

 for me to determine within what period death occurs. However, 

 the investigation seems to indicate that every dried fruit-body 

 exposed to the air loses its vitality in the course of a few months 

 or years, just as does a seed. 1 In the Table opposite is given 

 a list of the fungi which were tested, and also the results of tests 

 made after various periods of desiccation. 



Some well-grown specimens of Lenzites betulina and of Schizo- 

 phyllwm commune were collected. Doubtless, they had already 

 shed an abundance of spores before they were gathered. They 

 were kept dry for a whole year, and then revived in a damp- 

 chamber, whereupon they shed clouds of spores. Again, by drying, 

 they were put to rest for another year, and at the end of this second 

 period of desiccation they were again allowed access to free water. 

 They revived and shed spores once more. A similar revival was 

 found to take place even after desiccation for a third year, but an 

 attempt to revive the fruit-bodies after a fourth year of desiccation 

 was unsuccessful: the fruit-bodies became discoloured and putrid 

 without shedding any spores. 



Sticks, dead branches, and logs in woods are all liable to become 

 dried up. When this happens the mosses, lichens, and fungi upon 

 them must gradually dry up too. It is not surprising, therefore, 

 that these plants are adapted to withstand temporary desiccation. 



1 Paul Becquerel (loc. cit., p. 1178) found that dried seeds of various kinds 

 placed in pure and dry nitrogen in the dark for a year, did not liberate a trace 

 of carbon dioxide, and yet germinated subsequently. It will be of interest to 

 determine whether or not dried fruit-bodies of fungi are also capable of retaining 

 their vitality without any evidence of respiratory activity. If life may become 

 latent in dry seeds, it may also do so in dried fruit-bodies. 



