268 PHALLOIDE1. PABT n. 



implies. The exterior coat of these fungi is inseparable 

 from the internal matter, which is for the most part 

 fleshy. In some species it is dry, in others it abounds 

 in milky juice ; but in all the fruit is formed in hollows 

 excavated in the interior mass. In some species these 

 cavities are traversed by threads, and in many species 

 the spores accumulate in such multitudes within the 

 cavities, as to make it certain that the spicules, on 

 which the spores are borne, produce successive crops. 

 They are set free by the rupture of the rind. A species 

 of the genus Melanogaster, abundant in the south of 

 England, is edible and sold as the red truffle of Bath ; 

 but it is far inferior to the real truffle. 



The order Phalloidei has a club-shaped or globose 

 head, composed in the interior of large cells mixed with 

 fruit-bearing cavities. This head has a coat consisting 

 of a jelly inclosed between two heterogeneous strata. 

 The whole interior of the fungus deliquesces, changes 

 to a mucilage, and drips out of the exterior coat in drops 

 dark with microscopic spores. The colour of these 

 fungi is often beautiful, but their smell is most loath- 

 some, tainting the air to a considerable distance ; yet the 

 gelatinous volva of more than one species an Ileodic- 

 tyon is eaten by the New Zealanders under the name 

 of thunder dirt, and Phallus Mokusin is an article of 

 food in China. 



Certain species of these fungi have a rudimentary 

 stem in their early stages, but it becomes full of deep 

 pits or cavities and suddenly acquires an enormous 

 development when the plant approaches maturity* The 

 cavities are at first strongly compressed, but as the stem 

 increases, they acquire a rounder form, till at length 

 their vertical tendency is so strong that the coat or 

 volva of the fungus is ruptured, which could only be 

 effected by a very strong force. Moreover, the stem is 

 fixed to the base by so small a point that the plant 



