3 1 9 
Coprophilous Fungi . 
sometimes revert more or less to the habits of the more primitive 
species yet growing on the ground, thus betraying their origin. 
A quantity of dung bearing a rich growth of Ascobolus 
glaber was kept shut up in a tin box. The mature spores 
of the Fungus had been ejected and adhered to the lid and 
sides of the box, where they germinated and produced in 
due course a plentiful crop of ascophores, which were some- 
what paler in colour than the typical form from which they 
originated : furthermore, the mucilage, which is abundant and 
of a pale brown colour in the typical form, was very scanty 
and colourless. Spores obtained from the typical Fungus 
growing on dung could not be induced to germinate, whereas 
the spores of the retrogressive form grown on the lid of the 
box germinated in a hanging-drop of dung decoction at 8o° F., 
but would not germinate at a lower temperature. Spores 
of the Fungus growing on the box lid were received on the 
lid of a Petri dish and in turn produced ascophores, growing 
in a decoction of plum-jam in gelatine. The spores of these 
Fungi, representing the second generation removed from the 
typical form, germinated readily in water at a temperature 
of 6o° F. The spores of this last generation were passed 
through the intestinal canal of a guinea-pig, and it was 
found that no germination had taken place ; the spores 
also refused to germinate afterwards in a decoction of dung 
at a high temperature. 
Eurotium insigne , originally discovered on dung by Winter 
in Germany, has been met with in great abundance on 
kangaroo-, horse- and fowl-dung at Kew. Its very large, 
globose, spinulose spores germinated vigorously in a decoc- 
tion of dung, soon forming a wefted mycelium which on 
the fifth day produced the conidial condition of the Fungus — 
a member of the form-genus Gliocladium — and on the eleventh 
day the young ascigerous condition appeared, reaching 
maturity in five more days. 
Thelebolus stercoreus is of special interest on account of the 
important position assigned to it by Brefeld in his classifica- 
tion of Fungi. In Brefeld’s scheme Thelebolus is placed in the 
