248 MYCOLOGY 



canals of flies. The gleba is the fruiting portion of the phalloid and its . 

 bulk appears considerable in the early egg-shaped stage of the fruit 

 body. As the carrion fungus matures, it forms proportionately less of 

 the fruit body, for it is converted into the greenish, mucilaginous mass 

 which is removed by the flies. Some forms like Didyophora have a veil 

 that hangs under the pileus and spreads out as a net around the stem. 

 Although it is called the veil, it is more correctly the indusium. The 

 sporophore in genera like Clathrus (Fig. 98) takes the form of a hollow 

 sphere, or of a basket-like lattice, while in other genera it resembles the 

 open iron framework of a lantern, a brazier, a crinoid, or storie-lily, an 

 octopus, or even a sea-anemone. One tropic form of Brazil has been 

 called Pilzblumen by the Germans. The species are not common in 

 temperate regions, but in the tropics they are richer in forms and more 

 abundant; for example, in Florida the species of Clathrus are common, 

 the writer finding four specimens within a quarter of a mile along a road 

 across the sand dunes at Ormond. 



Development of the Carrion Fungi. — Several authors have studied 

 the development of several forms of the Phallomycetes, notably 

 Burt and Atkinson. Burt^ has contributed three papers dealing with 

 the genera Anthurus, Clathrus and Mutinus, while Atkinson's studies^ 

 are concerned with Ithyphallus and Didyophora. 



Burt finds in the Clathrace^ that the egg consists of cortical and 

 medullary systems continued upward from the mycelial strand in the 

 earliest stage. The cortical layer gives rise to the outer layer of the 

 volva, the cortical plates and the pseudoparenchyma of the receptacu- 

 lum. The medullary portion gives rise to the gelatinous masses of the 

 gelatinous layer of the volva, to the gleba, and to the gelatinous tissue 

 of the chambers of the receptaculum. The elongation of the receptacle 

 in Clathrus columnatus (Fig. 98) begins at the base and after its elonga- 

 tion the gleba hangs suspended from the arch of the receptaculum by 

 medullary tissue constituting the chamber masses of the receptacle. 



In the earliest recognizable stage of Mutinus caninus, the egg con- 

 sists of the cortical and medullary tissues of the mycelial strand, 



1 Burt, Edward A.: A North American Anthurus: Its Structure and Develop- 

 ment. Memoirs Boston Soc. of Nat. Hist., 3: 487 (1894); The Development of 

 Mutinus caninus. Annals of Botany, 10: 343 (1896); The Phalloideas of the United 

 States. Development of the Receptacle of Clathrus columnaLus. 



Atkinson, George F.: The Origin and Taxonomic Value of the Veil in Dicty- 

 ophora and Ithyphallus. Botanical Gazette, 50: 1-20, January, 1911. 



