The Dispersion of the Spores of Fungi by the 
Agency of Insects, with special reference 
to the Phalloidei. 
BY 
T. WEMYSS FULTON, M.B. 
With Plate XV. 
i. Introductory. 
I T may be desirable to explain that this investigation 
originated while I was engaged in the study of the 
adaptations of flowers for insect visits, and purely from a 
consideration of the possible function of the strong odour 
emitted by Phallus impudicus . It was only on the completion 
of my paper that I discovered that Professor Rathay and 
Dr. Haas 1 had previously worked at the subject. The first 
notice of the probable adaptation of Phallus for the attraction 
of insects seemingly appeared anonymously in Science Gossip 2 , 
and a fuller account by ‘ W. R. G.’ in the Bulletin of the Torrey 
Botanical Club in the following year 3 . But these notices were 
more in the way of surmise than as showing the results of 
systematic investigation. The paper referred to by Messrs. 
Rathay and Haas embodies the results of observation and 
of chemical analysis of the sporiferous hymenial slime, and 
indicates the adaptation of Phallus and its congeners for insect 
visitation. In the following paper the research is carried 
1 Sitzungsb. d. Mathem.-Naturwiss. Akad. d. Wissenschaft., Bd. lxxxvii, Heft i, 
p, 18. Wien, 1883. 
2 November 1879. 3 Vol. vii, p. 30, 1880. 
[Annals of Botany, Vol. III. No. X. May 1889. ] 
