188 
GASTEROMYCETES. 
PHALLOIDACES. 
DicTYOPHORA PHALLOIDEA Desy. in Journ. d. Bot. ii. 88 (1809). 
Manokoeari, very common on ground where damp in forest, 200’. Jan. 
6156. 
Brown, reticulum yellow. Eggs brown. Smells like Phallus impudicus. 
Distrib. Widespread in tropics. 
In specimens preserved in spirit the pileus and the wide-netted 
reticulum have a dark, somewhat orange colour and the stipe is almost 
white ; the liquid contains a flocculent powder, which is of the same colour 
as the reticulum, but somewhat lighter. In dried specimens the pileus is 
blackish brown, the net and stipe orange, and the volva looks like touch- 
wood. The pileus, stipe, and indusium of D. phalloidea are in most 
collections normally white; and Fischer (1891, 1893) gives thirty-six 
synonymous forms, though he includes D. rosea (Cesati), recorded from 
French Guinea and Java, in which the indusium is pink. 
D. phalloidea seems to be extremely variable in the shape and size of its 
parts, chiefly the pileus and the indusium. Méller, discussing the question 
of varieties (‘Brasilische Pilzblumen,’ 122 (1895)), says :—‘* Die Varietiiten- 
bildung kann meines Erachtens keine andere Bedeutung haben, als die 
einer iibersichtlichen Anordung der in den Sammlungen zufillig ent- 
haltenen Stiicke. Jeder neue Fund wird sie veriindern und erweitern. . - - 
Wiirde man auf diesem Wege weiter gehen, so miisste beinahe fiir jeden 
neuen Kinzelfund nun ein neuer Varietiten-Name gemacht werden, mit — 
ebenso grossem und ebenso geringem Rechte, wie man friiher einen neuen 
Artnamen einsetzte. In der Sache wire kaum etwas geiindert. Ich 
mochte es fiir ausreichend halten, wenn man neue Fundorte bekannt giebt — 
und auf die vorkommenden Formabweichungen aufmerksam macht, um 
das Maass der Formschwankungen innerhalb dieser merkwiirdigen Art 
allmihlich festzustellen.” Petch (Ann. Roy. Bot. Gard. Peradeniya, iv. 
139 (1908)) gives an account of the variations in the pileus and net which 
led to the formation of “species.” The New-Guinea specimens fall well 
within the morphological series described by various authors. 
With regard to colour there seems to be just as great a variation, and 
certain species have been described on what seems to be differences in 
colour alone. One of these, Dictyophora multicolor, was described from 
Brisbane by Berkeley and Broome (Trans. Linn. Soc. 2nd ser. Bot. ii. 65 
(1883)). The type-specimen is in the herbarium of the British Museum. 
T'wo drawings accompanied the specimen sent by Bailey—one by himself, the 
other by his young son. The drawing and colouring in each is very poor, 
and Bailey calls his own colouring “incorrect.” The notes on colour are 
“orange” for the pileus, “lemon” for the net, and ‘cream ” for the stipe. 
