30 FETCH : REVISIONS OF 



collected. Now, we know L. oncopoda, and any suggestion 

 as to what L. continua was is useful, but the former is fleshy 

 and has gills attenuated behind, and is covered with large 

 warts, while the latter is membranaceous, smooth, and has 

 gills " reticulated behind," whatever that may mean in a 

 Lepiota. 



The genus Lentinus is represented in Thwaites' collection 

 by twenty-five species. The group has not yet been completely 

 made out because some of the type specimens referred to 

 are Gardner's, and cannot be examined on the spot, but so 

 far it is evident that one of these Lentini is a Clitopilus, and 

 another {L. cartilagineus) is the termite nest Volvaria. Four 

 other names refer to one species only, and this is a Clitocybe. 

 This leaves nineteen Lentini, and, of these, two names at least 

 refer to one species which elsewhere in the list does duty as 

 a Pleurotus, while another species is represented under at least 

 eight names. So that at present our twenty-five LenHni 

 reduce to eleven, and in all probability they will be reduced 

 still further when the remainder have been identified. And 

 yet Lentini are considered to be always recognizable. No 

 wonder that " the tough, leathery fungi predominate " in the 

 imagination of descriptive mycologists. 



Again, Gardner collected three species of Pleurotus ; Thwaites 

 collected nine in the Gardens ; yet they have no species in 

 common. But we find from the drawings and specimens, 

 that one of Thwaites' species is a Lentinus ; and that two 

 other names are synonyms and indicate the only Pleurotus 

 which Gardner collected in the Peradeniya Gardens, though 

 his gathering was attributed to a European species. 



Our commonest Lepiota, L. Zeylanica, Berk., was originally 

 described from specimens sent by Gardner. Berkeley did noi 

 recognize it in Thwaites' consignment, but renamed it theloides 

 When it was afterwards discovered to be identical with Gard- 

 ner's species, Berkeley and Broome split up Thwaites' gather- 

 ing into zeylanica, suhdypeolaria, and ruhicata, on characters 

 which prove to be common to all the Ceylon forms which at 



