THE PHALLOIDE^ OF CEYLON. 151 



I have followed Fischer in retaining the name Dictyophora. 

 Lloyd (" Concerning the Phalloids," May. 1907) unites Dictyo- 

 phora with Phallus, on the ground that all have a net, though 

 it is rudimentary in the accepted species of Phallus. It is 

 true that Phallus impudicus sometimes has a thin white sheet 

 of tissue midemeath the cap or adhering in patches to the 

 stalk, but this is not homologous with the net of Dictyophora. 

 Dictyoplwra pJmlloidea frequently has exactly the same patches 

 on the stalk, but this is in addition to, not instead of, the net. 

 In both cases this represents a part of the " ground tissue" 

 between the cap and the stalk, which, hke the white film on 

 the cap, should have disappeared as the fructification matured. 

 Penzig's photograph of D. multicolor shows the same patches. 



Lloyd (Myco. notes, May, 1907) says, " Alfred Moller- figures 

 a form which seems to us quite distinct in its rigid veil." 

 This specimen had been developed under a bell glass, and there- 

 fore had not collapsed. All our specimens of Dictyophora 

 have rigid veils when first expanded. 



Moller says that D. pJmlloidea has a most offensive, intoler- 

 able smell, and that it compelled him to leave the room in 

 which he was examining his specimens. On the other hand, 

 most people whom I have tested with the Ceylon form agree that 

 from this point of view it is a failure. It is not by any means 

 so offensive as Phallus impudicus. The smell is rather sweet, 

 slightly offensive indoors, but is scarcely perceptible at a short 

 distance from the fungus in the open. I have never been able 

 to detect D. phalloidea by the smell as I have Phallus impudicus. 



2. — Dictyophora irpicina, Pat. 



This species was described by Patouillard from specimens 

 collected in Java, and further details have been added by 

 Penzig. The latter states that it is rarer than D. phalloidea, 

 he having found only nine specimens. Apparently it was not 

 seen by Thwaites or Gardner in Ceylon, or, if seen, was not 

 distinguished from the common species. It is now fairly 

 common in the Royal Botanic Gardens, Peradeniya, though 

 it is pecuHarly confined to that part of the flower garden where 

 the grass is cut every few days. Over this area D. irpicina 

 grows in some abundance among the closely cut grass and at 



