40 Mr. Berkeley on an edible Fungus from Tierra del Fuego, 



lost their expulsive property, and rotted. It perhaps forms a new genus, ap- 

 proximating to the Sphcerice. Its vulgar name is Digndnes. Some persons eat 

 them, but their insipid and styptic taste is disagreeable." 



Cyttaria. 



Receptacula camoso-gelatinosa in stroma commune subglobosum, epidermide crassiuscula 

 vestitum, aggregata; basi stipitiformi granulata. Cupula peripherica, primo clausa, 

 gelatina distenta, demum epidermide rupta aperta. Hymenium, margine excepto, sepa- 

 rabile. Asd ampli, distincti, demum liberi, paraphysibus immixtis. Velum persistens 

 demum ruptum, margine plus minus reflexo. Sporidia pallida. 



Genus Bulgariae affine, sed stromate pulvinato ex variis individuis composito Sphaeriam con- 

 centricam quodammodo referente, et hymenio separabili valde diversum. Certi ad se- 

 riem Pezizarum pertinet, perithecio spuria non obstante. Confer Sphaeriam mono- 

 carpam Schum. ad Pez. rhizopodam a clar. Friesio ascriptam. Nomen dedi a KVTrapo<: 

 ob superficiem fungi alveolatam. 



Spec. 1 . Cyttaria Darwinii. 

 Vitellina ; globoso-depressa ; cupulis parvis ore irregulari demiim apertis. 

 Hab. in Fagum betuloidem in Tierra del Fuego. Dec. — Jun. 



Small specimens, half an inch in diameter, are globose, but depressed above and below so 

 as to resemble a little button-mushroom ; strongly umbilicate below, with the edges 

 of the umbilicus slightly puckered, and supported by a short brown stem (1^ line 

 high, 2 lines thick), which proceeds from the umbilicus and is granulated like shagreen, 

 as if beset with a small, black, parasitic Sphceria. Epidermis tough, very smooth and 

 shining. A vertical section presents a brown fibrous mass springing from the stem, 

 which gives off on every side elongated radiating bodies divided from each other by a 

 dark line, but which do not separate easily from one another. The divisions of the 

 internal mass towards the circumference are more minute but well marked, and the 

 epidermis quite distinct. In this state there is not the slightest trace of the periphe- 

 rical cups. 



In a more advanced stage of growth, when the balls are from 1 to 2 inches in diameter, the 

 cups first begin to appear, the interior presenting in other respects nearly the same 

 appearance as before, except that the divisions are larger. They are formed beneath 

 the cuticle, and are at first covered by a portion of the matrix. The cuticle becomes 

 depressed, though still tough and thick. The hymenium is separable in a body from 

 the surrounding substance, except at the top, but I have not been able to detect either 



