CEYLON FUNGI. 45 



Oth.er colour changes (beyond those of the gills) account for 

 the naming of a young form as Armillaria and the mature 

 stage as Flammula. 



Even in structure there is wide variation. We have species 

 which may or may not be umbonate, and the difference occurs 

 in two connate-stalked specimens, but the gathering is care- 

 fully sorted out into two distinct species. Variations in the 

 veil or the scaUness of the stem are thought sufficient distinc- 

 tion : well, we take a mass of leaf mould bearing expanded 

 and unexpanded specimens of Lepiota pyrrhces, which has a 

 stem clothed with red-brown scales below the ring, and allow 

 the unopened examples to develop in a saturated atmosphere 

 under a bell glass : the scales then remain on the veil, and 

 the veil separates from the stem leaving a wide central circular 

 opening through which the stem passes : finally, the veil 

 disappears, and the stem is smooth, shining, and ringless : 

 then it is russoceps. Similar variations occur in our com- 

 monest Psalliota, with the result that it is about a dozen 

 species. The published accounts of the fungi of Ceylon de- 

 monstrate that an agaric, at least, cannot be described from 

 a dried specimen, and that the average describer has not the 

 shghtest idea of the general biology of the species with which 

 he attempts to deal. 



Descriptions of Ceylon fungi will be published from time to 

 time as it becomes necessary to work out the various species. 

 In all cases, these will be based on a large number of specimens, 

 and where possible the fungi will have been watched through 

 all their stages. It is evident that, with about 1,300 old 

 " species " to be verified in addition to those which have not 

 been recorded, it will not be jjossible to present these contri- 

 butions as summaries of definite groups : they will merely 

 consist of those species which have come to hand, and even 

 these will not be recorded until it is reasonably cei'tain that 

 all their Ceylon synonyms have been ascertained. In some 

 groups our information is fairly complete. Thanks to Mr. 

 Lister's critical examination of the mycetozoa of Ceylon in 

 the Kew and South Kensington herbaria, Thwaites' seventy- 

 four species have been accurately determined : seven of these 

 are not mycetozoa, and the remainder fall into fifty-two 



