NORTH AMERICAN ANTIIUIMS. 



489 



At the sides of the dome and near the diaphragm, two smaller cavities may lie seen 

 (Fig. 4). Passages are shown leading out from each of these. The passage k near the 

 diaphragm leads into a similar small cavity in the next space between two arms. By 

 a series of six such small cavities and connecting passages a complete circuit is made 

 through the wall of the stipe at its upper end. Each of the small cavities is in communi- 

 cation with the large cavity of each of the two adjacent arms above by passages 

 marked I. Irregularly shaped small cavities extend from the ring-like system just 

 described down into the wall of the stipe. This system of cavities does not show in 

 this region any direct connection with the cavity of the dome or with the main central 

 cavity of the stipe. 



The course of these cavities from the chambers in the wall of the stipe up into the 

 arms is of special interest as showing the arrangement and distribution in early stages of 

 the bundles of hyphae which then filled these cavities. But this subject will come up 

 again in tracing the development of the plant. 



The so-called "eggs" are found underground either singly or in clusters of from two 

 to four upon branching mycelial strands (Fig. 3). In the fresh condition they vary in 

 form from nearly spherical to oval, but upon lying in alcohol they contract more in 

 transverse than in longitudinal diameter. An "egg" just beginning to rupture at the 

 apex had a diameter of 2 cm. The wall of the peridium has the usual structure of three 

 layers, of which the outer and the inner are thin white membranes, but composed of 

 very different hyphae however. These layers are separated by a broad layer of gelatinous 

 tissue (M', Figs. 7-9). 



Histology and Development. 

 The Mycelial Strand. 



Full-grown mycelial strands upon which the "eggs" are borne may have a diameter 

 of 2 mm. These strands show a broad medullary layer of fine hyphae running longitudi- 

 nally and a narrow cortical layer consisting of hyphae more irregular in their form and 

 course, more interwoven, and with occasional short lateral branches extending outward to 

 the surface of the strand. There is no sharp separation of these layers — the medullary 

 layer passes gradually into the cortical. 



Crystals of calcium oxalate have been found in the cortical portions of some members 

 of the Phalloideae, as by De Bary 1 in Phallus caninus and by Fischer 2 in Clathrns can- 



1 De Bary : Beitr. z. morpli. u. physiol. <ler pilze. Zur 

 morph. der phalloideen, p. 59. 



2 Ed. Fischer: Untersuch. z. entwick. der phalloideen, 

 p. 3. 



