Attractive Characters in Fungi

Abstract

I NOTE in your issue of November 6 (p. 9), Mr. Straton mentions the fact of the common mushroom spores being unproductive until they have passed through an animal host, naming horse, sheep, and oxen, but it appears to me it must be rendered equally fertile after passing through the larvæ of beetles, flies, &c., else how could nurserymen supply spawn with mycelium ready for generation? It is possible, therefore, that though larger animals act very often as hosts to mushroom spores, insects are mainly responsible for their reproduction. The soft spongy nature presents but little resistance to the ovipositor, and most mushrooms if examined in a state of decomposition will be found perforated by maggots, the larvæ of Diptera and Coleoptera.