SPORE DIFFUSION IN PHALLOIDEI. 
85 
not fertile ; ultimate conclusion, that the spores of fungi must pass 
through the body of some animal or they will not germinate. 
Undoubtedly this is all a romance, with no other basis than the 
above supposition, and devoid of any sustaining facts. On the 
contrary, Mr. Worthington Smith demonstrated that spores of 
Coprinus germinated readily on dung and its juices, although 
innocent of any intestinal journey. An error is a long time in 
dying out, and this one is most tenacious of life, although it has 
been contradicted over and over again. 
It is nearly two years since that Mr. Wemyss Fulton com- 
municated a paper to the “ Annals of Botany ” on 11 The Disper- 
sion of the Spores of Fungi by the agency of Insects, with special 
reference to the Phalloidei.” Perhaps no one really doubted that 
the foetid odour, prevalent in this order, was attractive to flies ; it 
was known pretty generally that the large flies congregated about 
the Phallus , and revelled in its dark green slime at the period of 
its maturity, but it had not been demonstrated by experiment that 
the voided spores were either fertile or sterile. It was shown, 
therefore, that the spores of Phallus impudicus having passed 
through the body of a fly, would germinate, and had not been 
injured in the transmission. “As to the action of the spores on 
the fly, there was no deleterious effect. They lived for about 
three weeks on this food and then died, and, as was to be expected, 
no subsequent change occurred in their bodies.” As to the effect 
of the ingestion of the spores upon the spores themselves, it was 
found that they germinated and produced mycelium without 
apparently having suffered injury. No one is at liberty to assume 
that the spores had been rendered fertile by ingestion, and that it 
was essential to their germination that they should pass through 
the stomach of a fly. No such inference is drawn in the paper 
alluded to, and, as far as we see, no other suggestion than “ insects 
are normally the disseminators of the spores of Phallus impudicus , 
and that this fact serves to explain, not only the peculiar liquefac- 
tion of the hymenium, but many other points in its structure, and 
furnishes, indeed, the clue to the curious and often bizarre forms of 
other Phalloids which have so often puzzled botanists to explain.” 
An allusion is made in this paper to the species of Coprinus , in 
which genus it is known that the gills are deliquescent, falling 
away in black, inky drops, fully charged with the spores. It is 
assumed that a foetid odour is prevalent in Coprinus , whereas such 
is not the case until decay is considerably advanced. The propor- 
tion of foetid species is not greater in Coprinus than in any other 
genus or sub-genus of gill-beariug fungi, and should not be men- 
tioned in company with the Phalloidei. Neither could we ever 
discover that they were exceptionally subject to the visitation of 
insects. On this point, however, we should be glad to hear of the 
results of systematic observation. We note, however, the follow- 
ing : “ In some cases, from the radial Assuring and the curling up 
of the pileus, combined with peculiarities of colouring, a curious 
