21 I 
by the Agency of Insects . 
Junius, who died in 1575, but whose verses were not published 
until 1616. It is as follows : — • 
‘ Vertice supremo praefert exile foramen 
Quod stipant avide muscarum examina nigra.’ 
Jacob Christian Schaffer, in 1760, described the attractiveness 
of Phallus for flies 1 . Ventenat 2 , writing at the end of last 
century, says it diffuses £ une odeur infecte, qui attire une foule 
d'insectes’; and Greville 3 remarks : ‘ So very offensive is the 
smell of this substance that it is seldom allowed to drop away 
according to the course of nature, but is generally consumed 
in a few hours by flesh flies.’ Berkeley 4 also says : ‘ The 
dripping hymenium affords a welcome food to multitudes 
of flies.’ 
The liquefaction of the hymenium has been generally re- 
garded (e.g. by De Bary) as a means of allowing the spores 
to drop off in the fluid ; but this would tend to localise rather 
than to scatter them. Von Schlechtendal and Dr. Cooke, 
however, recognised the relation of the liquefaction to insects’ 
visits. The former says 5 : — * Dann beginnt das Hymenium und 
vielleicht auch die nahe gelegenen Theile zu zerfliessen, um 
die Sporen mit der dabei entstehenden iibelriechenden Fliis- 
sigkeit zur Aussaat zu bringen, was zum Theil auch dadurch 
zu geschehen scheint, dass die Thierwelt, indem sie diesen 
sporenhaltenden Saft oder die Pilze selbst verzehrt, fur deren 
weitere Verbreitung Sorge tragt.’ Dr. Cooke 6 also surmised 
the value of the insects’ visits when he says : ‘ This gelatinous 
substance has nevertheless a peculiar attraction for insects, and 
it is not altogether romantic to believe that in sucking up 
the fetid slime they also imbibe the spores, and transfer them 
from place to place, so that even amongst fungi insects aid in 
the dissemination of species.’ 
1 Der Gichtschwamm mit griinschleimigera Hute, p. 13, 1760. 
2 Mem. de 1’Instit. Nation, d. Sci. Art., Tom. i, p. 519, 1798. 
3 Scot. Crypt. Flora, vol. iv, tab. 213, 1826. 
4 Introd. Crypt. Bot, p. 347, 1857. 
5 Linnaea, Bd. xxxi, p. 115, 1862. 
6 Fungi: their Nature, Influence, and Uses, p. 123, 1875. 
