252 Vegetable Mortars. 



VEGETABLE MORTARS. 



BY THE REV. M. J. BERKELEY, M.A., F.L.S. 

 (With a Tinted Plate.) 



A great deal lias been written about the different methods 

 employed in the vegetable world to insure the dispersion of 

 seeds, and very marvellous a great many of the'm are. 

 Amongst other means, a sort of explosion, as in the squirting 

 cucumber and balsam, is not very uncommon; but perhaps no 

 more curious instances occur than one or two amongst the 

 smaller fungi, to which I beg leave to call attention in the 

 present notice. 



Some two or three years since, some excitement was pro- 

 duced in a large garden in Dumfriesshire, in consequence of 

 everything in a particular hothouse being studded with little 

 brown pellets, which adhered with great tenacity, and, indeed, 

 could scarcely be removed without more or less injury. The 

 under side of the leaves of plants of every kind seemed most 

 affected ; but not only living bodies were spotted, but the walls 

 themselves, and, indeed, every object of what is sometimes 

 called still life were pied with these little dark balls. Not the 

 slightest conception was formed as to the cause, and an opinion 

 seemed to prevail, half jest and half earnest, that the house 

 was bewitched. 



In this perplexity the case was submitted to me, and after 

 a little pondering it struck me that it might arise from the 

 growth of a quantity of little fungus, called Sphcerobolus 

 stellatus, which has the remarkable property of discharging 

 its globose sporangium very much after the manner in which 

 a shell is sent from a mortar. It seemed not improbable that 

 if orchids were grown in the house, the white bog-moss 

 (Sphagnum), which is often used in their cultivation, would be 

 a very likely substance for the fungus to inhabit. Attention, 

 therefore, was drawn in this direction, with a request that 

 strict search might be made, and specimens transmitted to me, 

 should anything be found. This request was complied with, 

 and the result was a quantity of S})hcerobolus stellatus, which 

 sufficiently accounted for the apparent wonder. That the 

 explanation, however, might not rest on mere conjecture, a 

 portion of the fungus, properly moistened, was placed under a 

 bell glass, the sides of which soon exhibited a quantity of 

 sporangia, and there they remain closely attached to this very 

 hour. 



Some months later a case somewhat similar occurred at 

 Ely. Every leaf, to whatever plant it might belong, within a 



