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XXXII.—Notice of some Fungi collected by C. Darwin, Esq., during the Expedition of H. M. Ship Beagle. By the Rev. M. J. BERKELEY, M.A., F.L.S.

[With Plates, No. VIII. and IX.]

The Fungi here noticed were placed in my hands some time since by Prof. Henslow. I am not certain whether they are all that were collected by Mr. Darwin, though it is probable, from the great mass of other matter upon his hands, that such is the ease. Though the number is small, two of them at least are quite new, and the Dædalea is one of the most beautiful of its race.

1. Polyporus sanguineus, Meyer (No. 464).

Rio Janeiro. May.

2. Stilbum lateritium, n. s. Gregarious, bursting from beneath the bark, solitary or subfaseiculate, pale brick-red; stems about 1 line high, thickest at the base and dusky; often confluent and flattened, pruinose from the presence of short curved obtuse flocci. Capitula ovate or subhemispherical, minutely setulose. Sporidia oblong.

Rio Janeiro. May. With the last. This is certainly very near to Stilbum cinnabarinum, Montagne, 'Ann. d. Sc. Nat.' n. s. vol. viii. p. 360, a species found in Cuba, of which I have

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received a specimen accompanied by a sketch, from the learned author, who most liberally sent me half of the only specimen he possessed. The habit is very different. There is a variety of St. Iateritium from St. Vincent's in Sir W. J. Hooker's collection with a smooth stem. A third species, S. aurantiacum, approaching very near to either, has been lately discovered in Leicestershire by Churchill Babington, Esq. It is probable that at some future time it may be thought right to separate the three species from Stilbum. The structure of the capitula is distinctly filamentous, and the sporidia, in Mr. Babington's plant at least, originate from the tips of the flocci.

3. Thelephora lobata, Kz. Fr. in Linnæa, (No. 599.)

Rio Janeiro. May.

4. Polyporus pinsitus, Fr. El. (No.599.)

Rio Janeiro. May.

5. Polyporus australis, Fr. (No. 600.)

Rio Janeiro. June.

6. Polyporus versicolor, Fr. (No. 1345.)

Falkland Islands on the underside of timber. Entirely resupinate.

7. Sporidesmium adscendens, n. s. Flocci bent at the base and filiform, flexuous, above abruptly incrassated; apex attenuated, truncate. Forming elongated black patches on the pileus of Polyporus versicolor. Allied to Sporidesmium hormiscioides, but in that species the threads have no distinct thickened portion above as in the present species. The articulations contain a large globule.

With the last. Falkland Islands.

8. Dædalea erubescens, n. s. Cæspitose, confluent. Pileus 4½ inches broad, coriaceous, depressed in the centre with the margin broadly deflexed, minutely velvety and silky, zoned, fulvous-cinnamon, nearly even, with the exception of one or two well-marked ridges; margin irregular, slightly fringed. Gills broad, unequal, distinct, rigid, much jagged, tinged with pink towards the margin, running down to the very base of the stem, on which they anastomose, and are clothed with a beautiful velvety pile. Stem central, 2 inches high, 1/3 of an inch thick, solid, dilated upwards into the pileus, velvety marked with oblong reticulations from the decurrent gills,

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fulvous-cinnamon, growing out of a thick spongy mycelium, which is attached to wood and leaves.

It is matter of doubt whether this species should be placed in Dædalea or Lentinus, though the habit is rather that of the former genus. The gills are not the least sinuous, and do not anastomose at all above; their colour is nearly that of deep tinted specimens of D. biennis. The pileus resembles somewhat that of Polyporus perennis, and in young plants is probably infundibuliform. The sporidia appear to have fallen out entirely, as is in general the case with exotic Hymenomycetes, and the cells of the surfuce of the hymenium have grown since the plant nos gathered, so that the form of the sporophores (basidia, Decaisne) cannot be detected. This is frequently the case in the coriaceous fungi, and can only be prevented by very prompt drying, care being taken to place the specimen when laid to dry in its natural position. No number being attached to this species, I am not able to say where it was gathered, but probably et Rio Janeiro.

Two other species are in the same collection which I am unable to determine; one a byssoid production, of doubtful affinity, from Terra del Fuego, No.496; the other an imperfect Thamnomyces (probably T. chordulis) from Rio Janeiro, No. 575.

EXPLANATION OF PLATE VIII.

Fig. 1. a. Sporidesmium adscendens on resupinate Polyporus versicolor, natural size.

b, c, d. Filaments, more or less magnified.

Fig. 2. a. Stilbum lateritium on bark, natural size.

b. The same, magnified.

c. Two individuals more highly magnified.

e. Flocci, of which the capitula are composed.

e. Sporidia.

PLATE IX.*

Dædalea erubescens.

* Plate IX. will be given next month in the Supplement Number.

[Plate VIII]

[Plate IX]