491 TUE K£V. U. J. BKMKELKY X'SD MU. C. E. BUOOME 



one of these plants, which belonged to the subspecies Berto- 

 lonii, Mor., at the base of the column of the monstrous flower, 

 which was prolonged below the stigmatic cavity, three distinct 

 spots served to mark the position of the three nerves or bundles 

 of spiral vessels, of which the two lateral ones belong to the 

 missing stamens, and the central one to the mid nerve of the 

 labellum. At fig. 3 I have given a sketch of this flower, which 

 was the lowest on its spike, but not placed in the axil of its bract. 

 Dr. Masters * mentions several instances of similar modifications, 

 which appear to be not uncommon in Orchidaceae ; but I do not 

 find any allusion to the presence of three spots at the base of the 

 column which serve to illustrate the position of the spiral vessels 



Darwin in the labellum. These spots were entirely 



Mr 



superficial. 



DESCRIPTIONS^ OF THE PLATE. 



Fig. 1, abnormal flower of Sera^ias lingua, L., of the natural size ; fig. 1 «, 

 upper sepal ; 1 6 and 1 ^, seinilabellifonn lateral sepals ; 1 d, labellum ; 1 5 and 

 1 /, petals ; 1 g, the column ; 1 h, basal portions of the lateral sepals and of the 

 labellum, the column having been removed so as to show the course of the three 

 groups of spiral vessels which enter the labellum, and of their branches which 

 «upply the lateral sepals : figs. 1 a to 1 A, all magnified. 



the same, sliglitly magnified. 



natural 



Fig. 3, abnormal flower of subsp. 0])hrys Bertolonii, Mor., of the natural 

 size. 



\ 



The Fungi of Ceylon. By the Eev. M. J. BEEKkET, M.A., F.L.S., 



and C. E. BnodkiE, Esq., F.L.S. (Hymenomycetes, ivomAga- 

 ricus to Cantharellus.) 



[Eead June 16, 1870.] 



The materials in our possession, beside others to which] we 

 have access, are very considerable. We possess almost a com- 

 plete set of those which were collected by the late Dr. Gardner ; 

 those transmitted by Mr. Thwaites comprise more than twelve 

 hundred numbers, above three hundred of which have been beau- 

 tifully figured ; while those of Dr. Konig, preserved in the British 

 Museum, have already been described by one of us in the ' Annals 

 of Natural History.' Any general observations on the Fungi of 

 Ceylon had better be reserved till we have had the whole collec: 



* ' Teratology,' p. 398 (Meioplijlly of the CoroUa). 



