What is this thing I found in the garden? Slimey mesh ball from inside a jelly like egg.?

I dug this up out of the soil from under a fern.



http://www.flickr.com/photos/14526801@N0...



The photo shows 2 parts of the "shell" which are soft and jelly like. The mesh like ball was folded up inside the shell and popped out of a hole which had broken in the shell. The ball was very delicate and covered in brown slime and has since dried up to virtually nothing. The ball looked like one of those plastic collapsible balls made of linkages.



Any one know what this was? Was it a fern seed?

What is this thing I found in the garden? Slimey mesh ball from inside a jelly like egg.?
You photographed the "skeleton" of a type of 'stinkhorn mushroom called a 'basket stinkhorn' probably Clathus rubus, really cool looking aren't they. Although they smell like a dog crapped on a dead skunk, some Asian countries consider them a delicassy. http://www.fungaljungal.org/family_pages... RScott
Reply:It looks like something from another planet.
Reply:i have never seen anything like this before in or near ferns, it reminds me slightly of some sea fish egg cases.
Reply:take this to your county extension agent and see if they can ID it. I've never seen anything like it in my long life of gardening!
Reply:One of the jelly fungi or a slime mold?
Reply:Not a fern seed. Ferns produce seeds on their foliage.

Pic of fern seeds:

http://images.search.yahoo.com/search/im...



I'm guessing it is an insect sac or cocoon of some sort. I've never seen it before so I have no idea what it is. It's very unusual and worth investigating so I will keep looking.



Have you looked inside to see what was there?



BTW, Your picture with reference point is great. It will make searching much easier.