36 FETCH : REVISIONS OP 



Thwaites' illustrations (executed by Wm. de Alwis) and the 

 greater part of his specimens are still at Peradeniya, and these 

 form the basis on which future work must be founded. His 

 species are certainly described under several names, and when 

 this synonymy has been determined the basidiomycetes at 

 least will be reduced to about one half their present number. 

 Berkeley and Broome seem to have uniformly disregarded 

 Thwaites' remarks as to the identity of different gatherings, 

 but in most cases Thwaites' view is correct : they also show a 

 decided preference for splitting up one of Thwaites' gatherings 

 into three or four species. It will not be possible to work 

 back to Gardner's species for several years, except in very 

 obvious cases. It may safely be said, however, that the 

 determinations of Ceylon fungi as European forms are in most 

 cases unreliable, and therefore theories of distribution, or 

 lists of the edible fungi of different countries, based merely on 

 the records of " Saccardo," are valueless. 



Examples of such determinations are Psathryella dissemi- 

 nata, Psalliota campestris, Ps. arvensis, Ps. sylvatica, Pleurotus 

 dryinus, Lepiota procera, Amanita vaginata, Nectria cinna- 

 barina, Tricholoma nudum, Clitocybe candicans, Pluteus 

 cervinus, Flammula sapinea. This statement is oiily made of 

 those cases in which fresh specimens have been examined 

 and compared with the original specimens and drawings. 



The descriptions of Ceylon fungi seem to have suffered 

 considerably in the transcription into " Saccardo." Thus 

 Pleurotus polychromus, which is f-1 inch, is said in " Saccardo " 

 to be 18-25 cms., and conversely PsaZ^ioto pedilia, with a stem 

 1 inch thick, is said to have a stem 2 mm. thick. The trans- 

 scriber had evidently very hazy views of the metric system. 

 Lepiota dolichaula is said to have a stalk " apice nigricante," 

 which presumably corresponds to Berkeley's phrase : " the 

 deep pit in which the apex of the stalk is sunk." Xylaria 

 melanaxis, Ces., is said to grow "in truncis," though the 

 original record makes no mention of that fact. 



Berkeley's Ceylon species and genera have been written 

 about on several occasions, and the names have been subjected 

 to the usual changes, sometimes after an examination of his 

 specimens, but more often without. In consequence, the 



