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



" In the beech forests," says Mr. Darwin, speaking of Tierra del Fuego, " the 

 trees are much diseased ; on the rough excrescences grow vast numbers of yel- 

 low balls. They are of the colour of the yolk of an egg, and vary in size from 

 that of a bullet to that of a small apple ; in shape they are globular, but a little 

 produced towards the point of attachment. They grow both on the branches 

 and stems in groups. When young they contain much fluid and are tasteless, 

 but in their older and altered state they form a very essential article of food for 

 the Fuegian. The boys collect them, and they are eaten uncooked with the 

 fish. When we were in Good Success Bay in December they were then young ; 

 in this state they are externally quite smooth, turgid, and of a bright colour, 

 with no internal cavity. The external surface was marked with white spaces, 

 as of a membrane covering a cell. Upon keeping one in a drawer, ray atten- 

 tion was called, after some interval, by finding it become nearly dry, the whole 

 surface honeycombed by regular cells, with the decided smell of a Fungus, and 

 with a slightly sweet mucous taste. In this state I have found them during 

 January and February (1833) over the whole country. Upon dividing one, 

 the centre is found partly hollow and filled with brown fibrous matter ; this 

 evidently merely acts as a support to the elastic semitransparent ligamentous 

 substance which forms the base and sides of the external cells. Some of 

 these balls remain on the trees nearly the whole year ; Captain Fitzroy has 

 seen them in June. 



" Feb. 1834. Port Famine. When young, colour 'ochre-yellow and Dutch- 

 orange ' of the Wernerian nomenclature ; smell strong ; taste sweet. From 

 the root a hollow vessel passes to the centre, from which white ligamentous 

 rays extend through the semi-gelatinous mass to the bottom of the cells. 



" June 1834. Found some * very turgid, and highly elastic ; a section of the 

 central parts white, and the whole, under a high power, looking like a vermi- 

 celli pudding, from the number of small thread-like cylinders. At about one- 

 twentieth of an inch from the external surface, there were placed, at regular 

 intervals, small cup-shaped bodies, one-twelfth of an inch in diameter, of a 

 bright ' Dutch-orange.' The cup was filled with adhesive, elastic, colourless, 

 quite transparent matter; and hence at first appeared hollow. The upper 



• One of these specimens is represented at (6.), and a section of a smaller one, fig. 4. 



