6 PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. 



investigations of interest throughout the seasons to the Cryptogamic botanist, that 

 but little attention has been paid to a tt^be of plants remarkable for their extraordi- 

 nary development, theirbeauty and vividnessofcolourinf?, theirseasonal reproduction, 

 their localinfluenees of growth, and the organization of forms constantly peculiar to 

 certain decaying vegetable bodies. Such are the Fungi or Fungal family, cellular 

 flowerless plants, propagated or reproduced by spores, chiefly growing upon decayed 

 organic substances, or developed from decomposed material. Although much in- 

 terested in the study of mycology, I shall not at present enter into remarks on the 

 organography or physiology of the subject, until observations that I have been 

 noting are more complete. I have long considered that these inquiries might lead 

 to jsuccessful results, by the adaptation of a suitable and favourable locale, where 

 a state of atmospheric influence necessary for the development of the more sensi- 

 tive forms of our Cryptogamic plants, which are brought forth only in the moist, 

 warm, and still atmosphere of the primeval woods of the south-west of this country, 

 might be gained. I have satisfactorily succeeded in carrying out these views in a 

 Fernery, which I have lately completed, where a proper aspect, subdued light and 

 temperature accomplish all that can be desired for the encouragement of healthy 

 growth and perfect development. Many of our more rare lichens, mosses, and jun- 

 germaniae have even in the most favourable localities never been known to fruit in 

 the British Isles ; yet, still, I am in hopes of tracing some facts of interest in their 

 development, as well as in the tribe of plants that I am about to submit to you 

 this evening. You are aware of the extreme interest excited by the study of the 

 Vivarium, where the habits and progression of animals can now be scanned, whose 

 ways were previously hidden in the deeps of the ocean. The fernery presents the 

 same interest to the Cryptogamic botanist. 



So far back as the month of April, 1844, I recorded in this society the discovery 

 oftheMorell, Morchella esculenta, by Simon Foot, Esq., in the pine woods at 

 Hollypark, and at the Little Dargle, and at the time alluded to the state of 

 our knowledge of the fungi of this country. Since then but little has been brought 

 forward new in that branch of study. Although I have noted a large number 

 of the fungi that are prevalent chiefly in the woods of the south-west of Ireland, 

 yet I shall only now bring forward the record of one of some interest, and allude to 

 a few of the more remarkable that I have obtained. The specimens, among others, 

 that I shall submit to you this evening are the different stages of growth of the 

 Birch -tree Polyporus, Polyporus betulinus, which I do not find to have been 

 hitherto recorded in any of the notices on that section of the botany of this country. 

 This fine and handsome species is of annual growth, assuming a rapid and large deve- 

 lopment in the autumn months on the decaying trunk of the birch-tree. It is met 

 with in the more secluded parts of Tore and Cromaglouin woods, in the neighbour- 

 hood of Killarney, where, on the huge trunk of a fallen birch-tree, I obtained speci- 

 mens measuring more than two feet across. The pileus is a pale reddish brown, 

 or deep fawn colour, occasionally spotted with a darker brown — flesh very thick 

 and white — hymenium of the same substance as the pileus, and not separated from 

 it. The fungus is attached to the tree vertically by a short, thick, rather sessile stipes. 

 The pileus is suberose or corky, extremely fleshy in the recent state, but of a dry 

 and fibrous nature when preserved, and in this respect resembles Polyporus fomen- 

 tarius, a species remarkable for making amadou, and which fungus is also found 

 growing on the birch in Cromaglouin wood. The Polyporus betulinus is consi- 

 dered of rather local occurrence both in England and Scotland, as well as another spe- 

 cies of interest that I have obtained on the branches of the birch, Stromatosphaeria 

 elliptica. The Polyporus foment,arius, or real amadou, is distributed in every 

 region of the globe ; and although met with on oak, yet is most generally seen 

 on the birch, the species in the tropics being identical with those of the 

 temperate zones. This distribution and attachment to peculiar trees is strikingly 

 seen in the genus Cyttaria, which is peculiar to the beech in Terra del Fuego, and 

 used there as an article of food — the same fungus is found on beech trees in Chili, 

 and also on similar trees in Van Dieman's Land. Of the other species of Poly- 

 pori, P. squamosus, the largest of British fungi, and which attains an enormous 

 growth in the space of a few weeks, is met with in one of the wooded glens near the 

 tunnel, growing on the fallen trunks of the ash and the birch. In this fungus, as 



