  The Curtis conjecture predicts that the only spherical classes in
$H_*(Q_0S^0;\Z/2)$ are the Hopf invariant one and the Kervaire invariant one
elements. We consider Sullivan's decomposition $$Q_0S^0=J\times\cok J$$ where
$J$ is the fibre of $\psi^q-1$ ($q=3$ at the prime $2$) and observe that the
Curtis conjecture holds when we restrict to $J$. We then use the Bott
periodicity and the $J$-homomorphism $SO\to Q_0S^0$ to define some generators
in $H_*(Q_0S^0;\Z/p)$, when $p$ is any prime, and determine the type of
subalgebras that they generate. For $p=2$ we determine spherical classes in
$H_*(\Omega^k_0J;\Z/2)$. We determine truncated subalgebras inside
$H_*(Q_0S^{-k};\Z/2)$. Applying the machinery of the Eilenberg-Moore spectral
sequence we define classes that are not in the image of by the
$J$-homomorphism. We shall make some partial observations on the algebraic
structure of $H_*(\Omega^k_0\cok J;\Z/2)$. Finally, we shall make some comments
on the problem in the case equivariant $J$-homomorphisms.
