Revisions of Ceylon Fungi. 



BY 



T. FETCH. 



INTRODUCTION : General aiid Historical. 



'T^HE earliest records of tropical fungi were based on the 

 miscellaneous collections made by various pioneer 

 expeditions chiefly at the beginning of the last century. 

 Though the botanists who took part in these explorations 

 devoted their attention mainly to the phanerogams of the 

 regions visited, tliey occasionally gathered a few fungi, and 

 these as a rule were deposited in some museum in Europe 

 where they remained for long periods (sometimes 60 years) 

 before anyone was sufficiently interested in fungi to undertake 

 their examination. It will be at once understood — at least, by 

 anyone who has had to examine the miscellaneous gatherings 

 of the average " Fungus Foray " — that these early collections 

 will be composed in great part of the commonest species, 

 though with the usual " beginner's luck," they may include 

 some of the greatest rarities. In general, it is I think clear 

 that the collector who merety gathers fungi en passant should 

 obtain (not necessarily exclusively) the commonest species of 

 the district through which he travels. We may expect, there- 

 fore, that the thousands of fungi recorded for the Tropics 

 should include most of the common species. 



It is also to be noted that these pioneer collections are almost 

 entirely composed of such fungi as could be preserved, at least 

 as far as their shape is concerned, in the same way as flowering 

 plants, or could be dried without decay. From this has grown 

 the idea that the more durable fungi, e.g. , Lentini and Poly fori, 



[Aoijala of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Peradeniya, Vol. IV.. Part H-, October, 1907.] 



