TERMITE FUNGI : A REStJME. 305 



at their margins near the openings and entrances. Under a 

 magnifying glass they appear fibrous or woolly." That state- 

 ment hardly afiords sufficient evidence that Konig saw fungi 

 on the comb, since the " chagrin skin " appearance is not due 

 to fungi, but to small inequalities caused by the pellets of 

 excrement, of which the comb is built. But Escherich, 

 quoting from the same paper, states that Konig fomid on the 

 combs a species of mould, " mucor stipulatus capsuli? 

 globosis compositis niveis," which was doubtless the common 

 white, spherical, conidial fungus. 



In 1781 Smeathman published an account of his investiga- 

 tions into termite nests in West Africa ; he refers to the combs 

 as nurseries. Wheeler quotes the following from his paper : — 

 " There is a remarkable circumstance attending the nurseries. 

 They are always slightly overgrown wath mould, and plenti- 

 fully sprinkled with small white globules about the size of a 

 small pin's head. These at first Mr. S. took to be the eggs ; 

 but on bringing them to the microscope they evidently 

 appeared to be a species of mushroom, in shape like our eatable 

 mushroom in the young stage in which it is pickled. They 

 appear, when whole, white Uke sno^ a little thawed and then 

 rozen again, and when bruised seem composed of an infinite 

 number of pellucid particles, approaching to oval forms and 

 difficult to separate : the mouldiness seems Hkewise to be the 

 same Idnd of substance . The nm-series are inclosed in chambers 

 of clay, like those which contam the provisions, but larger." 



Smeathman's observations v/ere confirmed in 1850 by 

 Savage , who examined the same nests in West Africa. Savage 

 stated that Kirby and Spence considered the fungus a Mucor, 

 but he himself thought it was a Trichia. 



Early Records in Ceylon. 

 Among the consignments of fungi which Gardner forwarded 

 from Ceylon to Berkeley, circa 1846, was one, Lentinus carti- 

 laginous Berk., which was said to grow " from about four feet 

 below^ the surface of the earth from the comb of termites." 

 The stalks were stout, 20 to 26 cm. long, with a thick, 

 cartilaginous wall. This is the common termite agaric, which 

 is eaten by the natives in all the countries in which it occurs. 



