FUNCTION OF COLOUR AND SMELL IN FUNGI. 163 



tory stage no mushrooms are produced, and this being so, we can 

 see how important it is that in the spore-bearing stage the fungi 

 have neither colour nor smell objectionable to the animal host, 

 and how much more certain are their chances of perpetuation 

 should they possess these qualities to an attractive degree. 



Remembering these facts, we naturally expect to find that, 

 not only does the same method obtain in fungi other than the 

 common mushroom, but that each species or group has its own 

 peculiar animal host, and that each animal is attracted by 

 devices varying as greatly as those which are known to exist 

 between flowers and insects. Because the subject is one 

 requiring considerable biological knowledge, as well as necessi- 

 tating close and extensive observations concerning the habits of 

 both fungal and animal life, I must content myself for the 

 present with furnishing a few simple facts, and would suggest 

 that this contribution be regarded as introductory to a more 

 exhaustive one, which I hope to be able to offer after I have 

 pursued the subject a little closer. 



At present I see reasons for supposing that birds, such as 

 the raven, carrion-crow, rook, and magpie, — and quadrupeds, 

 such as the fox, badger, rabbit, hare, and squirrel, — play the 

 same important part in the life-history of our numerous native 

 fungi as the ox, sheep, and horse do for the common mushroom. 

 1 am further convinced that each kind of bird and animal plays 

 the part of host to a limited number of species, perhaps even 

 to only one, and that in every case the animal is lured to the 

 fungus, to which it acts as host, by a colour or smell which,— 

 although perhaps disagreeable, or at any rate not attractive, to 

 other creatures, — has a peculiar fascination for the animal host. 



During the present autumn I have noticed in the woods of 

 the Kennall VaUey scores of mushrooms, embracing many 

 species, on the partially eaten portions of which I have found 

 teeth-marks of rabbits, squirrels, and other animals. I have 

 long observed also a partiality among carrion-crows and rooks 

 for fungi possessing "high" smell and taste. If we could 

 go satisfactorily into the question we should doubtless find 

 that the fungi which afford pleasure to the raven, rook, and 

 carrion-crow, would be distasteful to the rabbit, fox, and squirrel. 



