124 
Mycologia 
timber by insects on the one hand and fungi on the other have 
been pointed out by several mycologists and entomologists. There 
are without doubt many fungi which follow the borings of in- 
sects. Cryptoporns volvatus is an example of this kind. It is 
found that a great many species of insects inhabit the pore-cavity. 
Hubbard (2) has dealt with the relation of insects to this fungus. 
The insects which wander in and out through the ostiole of the 
volva aid in the dissemination of the Cryptoporus spores. When 
the hymenium of the fungus begins to discharge spores the in- 
side of the volva soon becomes covered with a heavy layer of 
spores and when the insects crawl in and out they take with them 
myriads of spores upon their bodies and appendages. Besides 
the large number of insects mentioned by Hubbard, the small 
fungus borer, Sitodrepa panicea, is found in nearly all of the 
mature sporophores and its borings in the tree extend quite a dis- 
tance into the sapwood, where the insect would distribute the 
spores of the fungus. 
This relationship of fungi and insects is surely significant in 
the dissemination of the spores of this fungus which has its fruit- 
ing surface so protected from other spore carriers, such as air 
currents, etc. However, it would be difficult to imagine that 
Cryptoporus is as dependent upon boring insects as suggested 
by House ( i ) . He says that the volva aperture is the result of 
a boring weevil. This, however, is not consistent with the gen- 
eral appearance and development of the ostiole. During the 
stage of development when that portion of the volva had become 
thin and wholly vanished, with the exception of bits of the dead 
fundamental tissue, the writer has often cracked off the crust of 
resin from the under surface of the volva and thus disclosed a 
perfectly formed ostiole, through which no insect had ever passed. 
The margin of the ostiole is round and has the characteristic sur- 
face of the other portions of the fungus and very unlike the edge 
of a beetle boring. The ostiole of the volva of Cryptoporus vol- 
vatus is a morphological characteristic. 
Missouri Botanical Garden, 
St. Louis, Mo. 
