REV. M. J. BERKELEY ON TWO NEW GENERA OF FUNGI. 151 



species of Phallus. We may, therefore, taking both the European and American species 

 together, conclude, with tolerable certainty, that after all the figure of Battarra does indeed 

 represent a peculiar state of the well-known species. No doubt whatever rests on the 

 mind of Mr. Ravenel as to the identity of the clavate and more fusiform individuals of 

 his plant, though, before ample materials had been collected, he had formed a different 

 opinion. 



Having, as far as the materials which have been collected permit, cleared up the very 

 obscure plan^ of Battarra, I shall now advert more especially to that from South Carolina, 

 which differs from Phallus caninus, not only in colour and a more compact texture, but 

 in the important point of having the receptacle perforated. 



In Phallus caninus the cells of the head are horizontal, compact, much smaller and 

 quite different from those of the stem ; in the new fungus, the cells of the head differ 

 little in size, and are more numerous and not arranged horizontally. Though much stress 

 cannot be laid on the clavate form of certain individuals, the structure, taken in conjunc- 

 tion with the perforated pileus, completely justifies the proposition of a new genus for its 

 reception, unless such genera as Dictyophora, Mutinus, Dictyophallus, &c. are to be 

 rejected as mere members of the genus Phallus. Indeed, though Fries does not consider 

 Dictyophora, so remarkable for its beautiful reticulated veil-like appendage, as separable 

 from Phallus, he has proposed a distinct genus, Mutinus (formerly Cynophallus), for the 

 reception of Phallus caninus, in his ' Summa Vegetabilium Scandinavise.' On the same 

 principles our plant must be generically distinct. The genus then may be characterized 

 as follows : — 



Gen. Cortnites, Berkeley et Curtis. 



Uterus rotundatus e membrana duplici gelatina distenta compositus, lobato-rumpens. Receptaculum cum 

 stipite elongato celluloso-cribroso omnino continuum, obtusum, perforatum, massa sporifera primum 

 sinuato-cellulosa tenaci, mox vero diffluente, tectum. Sporm minutae. 



Fungi terrestres, oblongi, subfusiformes, autumnales. Genus a Mutino, Fries, differt receptaculo minus 

 discreto, apice perforata. 



C. Ravenelii, n. sp. 



On sandy ground, in grassy places. Autumn. Santee River. Curtis, Nos. 2573, 3037. Ravenel, No. 844. 



Egg globose, | of an inch in diameter. Volva bursting in two or three lobes closely applied to the stem. 

 Stem l|-2 inches high, 4-5 lines thick, bright red, coarsely cribrose, attenuated below, above con- 

 fluent with the receptacle, which is sometimes broadly clavate, sometimes conical, but always more 

 or less obtuse, pervious at the apex, sometimes half as long as the stem. Mass of spores dark olive, 

 soon washed off. Odour heavy and nauseous, but only perceptible when the hymenium is brought 

 near to the nose. 



Extreme forms are very different ; some specimens approaching to the more ordinary 

 form of Mutinus caninus, while others exactly resemble what is figured by Battarra. 



The second subject to which I beg leave to call the attention of the Society, is to a 

 group of fungi, of which Sphcerocarpus capsulifer, Bulliard, is evidently the type. Though 

 the description and figures are far from superficial, they appear for the most part to have 

 been neglected by authors. As far as I have been able to discover, there are no notices of 



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