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H ab. Frequent in Sandy, gravelly, and light loamy soils, in hedges, woods
and plantations. Summer. Common about Edinburgh, and many
other parts of Scotland. In England, it is also not unfrequent in most
counties.
Rout creeping, branching, fibrous, round, 1-2 lines in thickness, throwing
up here and there the young plants, which may be traced from the size
o f a pea, or even less, up to the full formed volva, protruding its sum-
piit above the surface of the ground, and containing within it the future
plant. Volva as large or larger than a hen’s egg, roundish-ovate,
white, smooth and heavy; on dissection, the volva is found to be double :
the outer one is composed of an external thickish white coat, with a dull
amber-coloured jelly-like substance, one-third of an inch in diameter,
lining its interior surface. From near the base, interiorly, arises the
inner volva, given off' by the outer one beneath where the jelly terminates
; this inner volva, which immediately envelopes the stipes and pileus,
is of a white colour, and very delicate ; about au inch o f it is generally
left entire at the base when the plant bursts its confinement,
and a small portion remains attached to the edge df the small plane
summit of the pileus. Stipes, when enclosed in the volva, about 2 inches
in length ; b u t after that p a rt is ruptured, acquiring 4-6 additional
inches in the course of as many hours : when thus mature, it is an inch
to an inch and a half thick, white, hollow, and its whole substance cellulose,
or perforated with largish holes ; it is very brittle, straight, or
slightly curved, and attenuated at each extremity. Pileus conical, or
rather campanulate, above an inch in height, the apex contracted, flat,
white, with a small thin projecting margin, and central depression, free,
smooth underneath, outwardly pitted like a honeycomb, the cells containing
a quantity of a slimy, dark green, stinking substance, in which
the innumerable very minute globose sporidia are dispersed. So very
offensive is the smell of this substance, that it is seldom allowed to drop
away according to the course of nature, b u t is generally consumed in a
few hours by flesh-flies. The summit of the pileus, said by many authors
to be pervious, is certainly oftener closed.
The subject of the present description is hy no means uncommon,
hut in regard to curious structure yields to none of its
Order. In the summer months, and beginning of autumn,
the exceedingly offensive effluvium which it exhales, is perceptible
at a distance of twenty yards, in woods and hedge-rows;
and many who are well acquainted with its powerful odour, are
ignorant of the singular production from which it arises. Not
the least remarkable of its properties, is the truly marvellous
rapidity of its growth. In bursting the volva or egg-like covering
which envelopes the rest of the fungus, considerable force
is required. B u í .i .ia r d affirms that the rupture is sometimes
accoinpaiiied with a report as loud as that of a pistol; and that if
it be placed in a glass or carthen-warc vessel, just large enough to
receive it, with a little water at the bottom, the vessel is broken
when the volva hursts. In the course of five or six hours after
the stipes escapes from its prison, it attains to its extreme elevation,
which is usually six or eight inches; In regarding this
wonderfully rapid elongation, it is worth while to remark, that,
while the stipes is confined within the volva, the cellules which
occupy the greater part of its substance, are so much vertically
compressed as to resemble crowded horizontal short lines; on
the other hand, when it is mature, the cellules are roundish.
It is probable; therefore, that the mere vertical dilatation of so
many compressed cavities, greatly facilitates this phenomenon.
Before closing my remarks on the stipes, I will venture
to suggest, that the jelly-like substance of the volva seems
intended, in part at least, to strengthen the sides; for if w'e
examine the base of the stipes, we shall find it diminishing
nearly to a point, and that it could never remain erect without
the support which it derives from the volva, which closely embraces
it,—an assistance the volva could not afford, unless it
had been rendered firm by the jelly, or some other substitute.
The pileus, immediately after bursting from the volva, is
covered with a dark olive-greeu soft substance of considerable
thickness, except at the contracted apex, which is white, flat,
naked, with a central depression, sometimes an orifice. In the
course of a few hours, the green substance begins to liquefy and
drop off, and exhale the odour peculiar to this plant; after the
greater part has disappeared, the cells of the pileus are rendered
visible. Flies are so fond of this slimy matter, that it is always
greedily devoured; at the same time, it has been correctly observed
in “ Flora Londinensis,” that, though they are attracted
hy the smell, yet it is not to deposit their eggs, as in the Sta-
pelice, but to partake of it as food.
At a little distance, the smell is so strong and fetid, that
few persons will believe it to lose its offensive character, when
held to the nose. I can, however, attest the truth of the following
passage, extracted from W ithering’s Arrangement:
“ Such as have courage to smell this matter closely, will find
it much less disagreeable than at a distance; for it then seems
to have a slight pungency, like that of volatile salts.” I am
not conscious that the plant has been applied to any use, except
to make poultices for rheumatism, by the good-wives of
Holland,—probably very harmlessly.
The systematic relations of Phallus are very ambiguous,
and no writer has completely satisfied me on the subject. My
industrious and acute friend M. A d o l p h e B r o n c n i a r t has
not passed over this in his valuable “ Fssai d’une classification