CEYLON FUNGI. • 35 



the species was described, but Berkeley and Broome included 

 with it Thwaites 731, which is apparently quite a different 

 species with long thin stalks and small spores, and which was 

 clearly not taken into account in drawing up the description. 

 In all probability " Collyhia apalosarca " is related to Oude- 

 mansiella, though it is difficult in the absence of figures to 

 grasp the description of the gills of that genus. In this 

 case the division of the gills is a variable feature, and it is not 

 comparable with that of Schizophyllum. 



These misdescriptions have as a matter of course been 

 copied into the " Sylloge Fungorum " for the guidance of 

 other mycologists, and as a rule some one finds species to fit 

 them. Although the man on the spot knows that the majority 

 of them did not originally describe any natural production 

 whatever, and cannot assign any fungus to a description 

 without the help of the original specimen and drawing, yet 

 he finds that they are apparently quite intelligible to my- 

 cologists who are not hampered by such assistance, nor by 

 fresh specimens from the original locahty. As a rule, the my- 

 cologist who rediscovers a Ceylon agaric in another country 

 merely lists the name : when he adds details of the fungus, 

 they prove that he has made a mistake. Collyhia apalosarca 

 is certainly not identifiable from its " description ; " yet it is 

 included in a recent list of African fungi. But the compiler 

 adds that the spores are oval and 9 x 8 , a fact which at 

 once proves that the identification is incorrect. The same 

 list includes Pluteus balanatus, B. & Br. : the specimen on 

 which this was founded is quite immature, Berkeley and 

 Broome did not see the spores, and there is no evidence that 

 it was a Pluteus : they say that the gills are pink, but in the 

 figure they are pale ochraceous. Another Ceylon species in 

 the same list is Pluteus glyphidatus, B. & Br., but the re- 

 description omits the characteristic features of that species, 

 and adds details which do not fit it. I have no intention of 

 declaring that Ceylon and Africa cannot have species common 

 to both ; but I confidently assert such a determination based 

 on the existing descriptions must in the majority of cases be 

 incorrect. 



