Growth of Phallus aurantiacus from cattle dung

332

Transactions British Mycological Society GROWTH OF PHALLUS AURANTIACUS FROM CATTLE DUNG G. JACKSON

Botany Department, University oflbadan, Nigeria AND

J.

WEBSTER

Department ofBiological Sciences, University

ofExeter, Exeter

There are no records of Phallales associated with dung (Dring, personal communication). This paper reports the occurrence of Phallus auraniiacus in boxes of previously sterilized soil to which cattle dung had been added. Studies by one of us (G.].) on the viability of seeds contained in dung from cattle driven from Northern Nigeria have been in progress for several years. Dung was collected from Bodija cattle yard, Ibadan, Nigeria. The cattle yard represents the end of a cattle trail for cattle from Northern Nigeria brought on foot or by train. On 14 December 1970, 200 g of dry dung was placed on the surface of sterilized (autoclaved) soil in wooden boxes measuring about 40 x 40 x 25 em. The boxes were watered daily with non-sterile tap-water, and placed in the open, under the shade of a building. Seeds, which had passed unharmed through the gut of the animal, germinated, and the following numbers ofseedlings were identified in one box containing the original dung sample: Amaranthus spinosus 1 I, Axanopus compressus 4, Calapagonium muucunoides 2, Cyperus sphacelatus I, Desmodium triflorum 3. Digitaria ciliaris 3, Eleusine indica 78, Eragrostis tenella I, Indigofera pulchra I, Paspalum orbiculate 4, Richardia brasiliensis 2, Sorghum vulgare 19, Sida corymbosa 12, Sida stipulata 15, Stylosanthes mucronata I. By 12 March 1971 a number offungi had made an appearance, including a species of Sphaerobolus with large fruit bodies referred to by Ingold (1971) and Alloway & Ingold (1971), but as yet unnamed, and an attractive Phalloid with a pale orange flush to the stipe. This fungus has subsequently been identified by Dr D. M. Dring as P. aurantiacus Montague, which he now regards as distinct from P. rubicundus (Bosc.) Fries (but see Dring, 1964). The specimen and a colour transparency are preserved in Herb K. Several fruit bodies of the Phallus appeared in this and boxes similarly treated, but no Phallusappeared in boxes ofsterilized soil to which dung was not applied. The presence of the Phallus in the boxes to which cattle dung had been added raises questions as to the origin of the spores from which the mycelium presumably developed. Two possibilities seem likely. First, it is possible that the spores of the Phallus were conveyed by an insect to some plant subsequently eaten by cattle, i.e, the fungus is endocoprophilous (Larsen, 1971). Secondly, it is possible that having visited a Phallus fruit body, an insect subsequently alighted on the cattle dung and deposited spores on it . Unfortunately little is known about the germination of phalloid spores, and the only known report of spore germination is that of Cobb (1906) Trans. Br. "!y&ol. Soc. 59 (a), (1972). Printed in Great Britain

Notes and Brief Articles

333

for Ithyphallus coralloides, a fungus associated with root disease ofsugar cane in Hawaii. This fungus is probably the same as P. rubicundus (Dring, personal communication, and Goos, 1970). It would be of great interest to know if the spores of P. aurantiacus can survive herbivore digestion, or if they are stimulated to germinate by the digestion process. Observations on the fungus flora developing on the dung of cattle fed with food-bearing spores of the Phallus would clearly be worth while. We are grateful to Dr D. M. Dring for identification of the specimen, for the loan ofliterature and for helpful comment. REFERENCES

ALLOWAY, J. M. & INGOLD, C. T. (1971). Physiological observations on Sphaerobolus. Transactions oftheBritish Mycological Society 57, 41 1-416. COBB, N. A. (1906). Fungus maladies of the sugar cane. Hawaiian Sugar Planters' AssociationExperimental Station, Division ofPathology andPhysiology Bulletin 5, 1-254. DRING, D. M. (1964). Gasteromycetes of West Tropical Africa. Mycological Papers, no. 98. Commonwealth Mycological Institute. Goos, R. D. (1970). Phalloid fungi of Hawaii. Pacific Science 24,282-287. INGOLD, C. T. (1971). The glebal mass of Sphaerobolus. Transactions oftheBritish Mycological Society 56, 105-113. LARSEN, K. (1971). Danish endocoprophilous fungi, and their sequence of occurrence. Saertryk af Botanisk Tidsskrift 66, 1-32.

FUNGI COLONIZING WOOD SUBMERGED IN THE MEDWAY ESTUARY N.

J

POOLE

School ofAgriculture, University

ofAberdeen, Aberdeen

AND P. C. PRICE

Medway and Maidstone College of Technology, Ft. Horsted, Chatham Fungi colonizing wood submerged in the seas around the British coasts have been studied by Jones (1962, 1963a, b, 1968). As part of a general ecological survey of the River Medway in North Kent, a study of the fungi colonizing wood submerged in the upper and lower reaches of the estuary was undertaken during 1970 and 1971. The upper reaches of the estuary are polluted by effluent originating from paper mills and sewage treatment works. The effect of this pollution on the intertidal macrobenthos and on some of the chemical characteristics of the Medway estuary has been discussed by Gascoine & Wildish (1971). The fungi were studied at two sites, 14 km apart, in the upper estuary, at Townsend Hook Paper Mills, Snodland (O.S. TQ 711616) and, in the lower estuary, at H.M. Dockyard, Chatham (O.S. TQ 757693). The chemical characteristics of the river at these two localities are recorded in Table 1. The discharge of cooling water by the paper mills into the upper Trans. Br. mycol. Soc. 59 (2), (1972). Printed in Great Britain