CAROTINOIDS IN THE CRYPTOGAMS 113 



Carotinoids in the Fungi 



The brilliancy of color which characterizes practically all classes 

 of fungi is a fact which is familiar even to the layman in the fields 

 of botany and biology. Yellow, orange and red colors are by no 

 means the least conspicuous among these plants, and may in many 

 cases be regarded as the predominating ones. This fact, together 

 with the absence of chlorophyll from this form of plant life, is what 

 gives prominence to a consideration of the relation of the pigments 

 involved to pigments of similar color, namely, carotinoids, produced 

 in the chlorophyllous plants. As has been already pointed out, how- 

 ever, yellow, orange and red colors in fungi appear to be more fre- 

 quently non-carotinoid in nature than possessing the characteristics 

 of the chromolipoids. Zopf (1890) mentions a number of instances 

 where this is the case. Nevertheless, carotinoids do occur among the 

 fungi, especially among the higher forms, and the evidence for this 

 conclusion will now be presented. It will be apparent, however, that 

 specific evidence is almost completely lacking as to the kinds of caro- 

 tinoids involved. The plan of presentation will be similar to that 

 followed in the case of the algae. 



The Basidiomycetes. The various fungi which comprise this group 

 include the numerous species of mushrooms, toadstools and bracket 

 fungi (included together under the Hymenomycetes) , the puff-balls 

 (G 'aster vmycetes) known to every school child, the rusts (Uredineae) , 

 and the smuts (Ustilaginece) . Yellow colors do not especially char- 

 acterize the Gasteromycetes, and so far as the author is aware caro- 

 tinoids have not been demonstrated in any of the members of this 

 family. The same statement likewise holds true for the smuts. 

 Yellow to orange-red tints are very common, however, among the 

 Hymenomycetes, and the Uridineae take their common name (rusts) 

 from the predominating color of their spores. 



The species of Basidiomycetes which may be regarded as owing 

 their color to carotinoids or related pigments are collected in Table 

 12. It is not to be considered that this short list comprises all the 

 species which probably contain carotinoids, but merely that proof has 

 been furnished for those mentioned. For example, the common mush- 

 room Clavaria fusiformis (Golden Spindle) may owe its color in part 

 to carotinoids although Sorby (1873) in his study of the pigments of 

 many classes of plants speaks of this fungus only as a source of 



