158 МВ. A. D. COTTON ON CRYPTOGAMS 
If compared with Europe we.may safely say that the terrestrial fungus- 
flora of the Falklands must ina general way resemble that of our own islands. 
The genera are the same. Small species of Tricholoma, Hygrophorus, Mycena, 
and Omphalia are common, whilst amongst the pink and yellow spored 
sections species of Æntoloma, Galera, and Naucoria are evidently frequent. 
The coprophilous (dung-loving) fungi are, аз far as they have been investi- 
gated, identical with those of Europe; Stropharia semiglobata, Coprinus 
radiatus, and Ciliaria stercorea being common, and agreeing exactly in form 
and microscopic structure. The specific identity of the pasture-forms is 
exceedingly difficult, but, as stated above, several well-known British species 
are recognisable (see p. 150), and further work will doubtless reveal others. 
At the same time a definite South American type, if we may judge from 
the numerous new Agarics described by Spegazzini from Fuegia, is 
recognisable in the Magellan region. In the Falklands, however, this element, 
though obvious enough amongst the smaller and parasitic species, is not 
apparent in the pasture-species list at present available. 
Contrasted with lichens, fungi may be said to be less hardy and less widely 
distributed. Many of the former can endure great extremes of temperature 
and also severe desiccation, and they must rank amongst the most widely 
distributed of all plants. Not a few lichens, moreover, occupying sea-level 
in cold and temperate countries are found in the mountainous regions of 
S. Europe, and at greater elevations on the Himalayas and mountains of 
Africa; and probably most of the species common to the Arctic and Ant- 
arctic occur, with a break at Panama, down the whole backbone of America. 
As far as is known, this is not the case with the fungi, the flora of the tropics 
being very different from that of Europe, though it should be noted that, as 
a rule, it is only the woody or coriaceous species that are forwarded or brought 
home for examination. In temperate S. America (Patagonia, the Argentine, 
and Paraguay) Spegazzini has collected and described many fleshy Agarics. 
Some of these he refers to already described species, but a large number 
he describes as new. The occurrence, therefore, of British species in the 
Falkland Islands tends to confirm the view that the light spores of the 
cellular eryptogams are universally distributed, and that the plants will 
flourish where conditions are suitable. 
With regard to the parasitic and epiphytic fungi specialization is rather 
marked, several distinct rusts and other species occurring on various native 
plants in the Magellan area (see р. 224, and Spegazzini, 787, pp. 46-53). 
At the same time it is interesting to note the presence of the well-known 
Puccinia Viole on Viola maculata, and Cystopus candidus on the endemic 
Crucifer Arabis macloviana. 
From an ecological standpoint the fungus-floras of the subantarctic islands, 
when more thoroughly known, may well be compared with such treeless 
islands as Iceland and the Faroes in the North Atlantic, for both of which 
