312 FETCH : 



Cleghorn. If such exists reference to it will probably be found 

 in later numbers of the Proceedings of the same Society. The 

 fungoid growths referred to would certamly be those of the 

 Xylaria which is associated with termite nests. 



Malaysia. 



The termite nest fungi have not yet been traced in the early 

 records from Java, &c., and the available information relating 

 to termite nests in those regions is of recent date. In 1879 

 Cesati published descriptions and figures of the fungi collected 

 by Beccari in Borneo, from which it is clear that one of them, 

 Tricholotno suhgamhosum , is the termite agaric, though it was 

 not said to grow on termite nests. In 1897 Penzig and 

 Saccardo described a Xylaria, X. torruhioides , which was found 

 on an exposed termite comb in Java ; and in the two succeeding 

 years Holtermann published the results of his investigations 

 into termite nests in Ceylon, Singapore, Java, and Borneo. 



In " Mykologische Untersuchungen " (1898) Holtermann 

 figured an agaric growing upon a termite comb, which he 

 called the sclerotium of the fungus. In a brief note he stated 

 that he found it in Ce3'lon, Java, Singapore, and Borneo. 

 From Holtermann's later accounts it is evident that he found 

 the termite nest agaric in all the countries mentioned, but the 

 figure in question cannot be considered a good representation 

 of that species, since it is only 3 cm. high, and therefore could 

 not have developed, as shown and as it invariably does, on a 

 termite comb in situ. 



In ' ' Botanische Untersuchungen, Schwendener-Festschrift " 

 (1899), Holtermann gives a full account of his researches. 

 He (ibservcd the small white spheres on the comb and de- 

 scribes them fairly fully, though he is in error in stating that 

 the outer cells, or sphere-like bodies, form a peridium, and in 

 hi.s description of the mode of production of the o))long spores. 

 When a coral) was placed in a glass dish, it developed a large 

 quantity of white mycelium, which completely covered it and 

 extended in white strands, as thick as one's finger, up to the 

 top of the dish ; in a week the sides and cover of the dish 

 were completely overgrown by a thick white sheet of mycelium. 

 Holtermann apparently regarded that as an exuberant growth 



