256 PBTCH : TMK FUNGI 



is thin. When hilly expanded it measures 1*75 to 5 cms. in 

 diameter. The stalk is u lute, longitudinally striate, somewhat 

 bulbous and tomentose at the base, solid, slightly twisted, 

 cartilaginous, 3 — 5 mm. thick, 25 — 3*5 cms. high. The gills 

 are rather thick, white, ventricose, forked, with an irregularly 

 lobed edge : they may be adnexed and separating, or free. 



The spores are 5 — 7 by 3 — 4 ft, elliptic with a sub-lateral api- 

 culus. Their colour has been variously estimated by different 

 people I have consulted as pinkish-buff, dull salmon, or 

 pink. The predominating hue is pink, and I have therefore 

 Kit the species under Berkeley's name. Enloloma stylophorum 

 B. & Br. appears to be an abnormal form of the same species. 



Comparison with the " Fungus Gardens " of leaf-cutting ants. 



The " Fungus Gardens " of the Leaf-cutting ants which were 

 i 1 1 \ estigated by Moller resemble the termite combs in structure 

 though they may attain a much greater size. Like the latter 

 they lie free in the chambers of the nests. 



The material of which the garden is built consists entirely 

 of finely divided leaves. Pieces cut out of living leaves are 

 carried into the nests, and after having been further bitten 

 into small fragments are kneaded by the ants into small balls 

 about £ mm. diameter. The upper and more recent part of the 

 garden is bluish black, while the lower older portion where 

 the leaf material has decayed is yellowish-red. The leaf balls 

 are permeated by hypha' which bind the whole structure 

 together, and scattered over the surface of the passages are 

 round white bodies consisting of groups of hyphffi which 

 terminate in spherical heads. These groups are | — £ mm. 

 diameter, though they sometimes occur so close together as 

 to appear to form a single group about I mm. diameter : they 



an- the "Kohlrabihaufchen" of Moller, the single swollen 

 heads being " ECohlrabikopfe." 



description <<f the fun i "i the nesta of the leaf-cutting ante 

 I i Moller'fl Recount 



