FUNGACEiE. 



has been used, and as it is said with advantage, in epistaxis, haemoptysis, 

 hematuria, and haematemesis, to expel clots and polypi from the uterus, 

 in leucorrhoea, puerperal convulsions, and amenorrhoea. 



Ergot is said to be adulterated with plaster of Paris casts, coloured 

 to resemble it. In the last edition of the London Pharmacopoeia it is 

 referred to the Acinula Clavus of Fries Syst. mycol. ; but Fries has no 

 such plant in any of his works; and the only species of Acinula known, 

 A. candicans, is found on the rotten leaves of the common Alder, and 

 among melting snow ; its organisation is quite of another kind from that 

 of Spermoedia, and Fries, who regards the latter as a morbid state of the 

 grain of certain grasses, considers Acinula as a true fungus. 



1324*. S. Maydis Fries syst. mycol. iii. Index. — In Colombia 

 in the female flowers of Zea Mays. 



An Ergot attacks the Indian Corn in Colombia, and is stated by 

 Roulin {Ann. des. Sc. xix. 279.) to cause a loss of the hair and teeth on 

 the part of both animals and men that eat it ; mules fed upon it lose 

 their hoofs, and poultry lay eggs without shell ; its action upon the 

 uterus is said to be as powerful as that of Rye ergot, or perhaps more 

 so. This ergot seems unknown at the Caraccas, where, at the in- 

 stance of Sir R. K. Porter, Dr. Vargas has been so obliging as to in- 

 stitute some inquiries upon the subject. Maize thus infested is called 

 Mais peladero. 



PACHYMA. 



Oblong-roundish, rootless ; rind distinct, thick, woody, scaly 

 or tuberculated, homogeneous and between fleshy and corky in- 

 side. Fructification unknown. Fries. 



* # * Fries suspects that the supposed species of this genus may be 

 the early state of other fungi. 



1325. P. Cocos Fries syst. ii. 242. — Sclerotium Cocos Schwei- 

 nitz. — Under the soil of sandy Pine barrens in Carolina. 



Elliptical or somewhat reniform, as large as a man's head, very like 

 a Cocoa nut in appearance. Rind an inch thick, between fibrous and 

 scaly, hard, of the same colour as the roots of the Pine-trees. Inside 

 uniform, smooth, filled with a fleshy corky matter having a mealy 

 fungus-like smell; when full grown pink. — Used in Carolina "ad 

 morbos sanandos." Fries. 



1326. P. Tuber regium Fries syst. ii. 243. — (Humph. 120, 

 t. 57- f. 4.) — Under ground in the Moluccas. 



The size of the fist, or even as large as a child's head. Rind tuber- 

 culated, pitted, without fibres, resembling a stone, on account of its 

 dark earthv colour. Inside white, chalky, soft, uniform, scentless a.id 

 insipid. — Used in the medicine of Eastern nations against diarrhcea, 

 pains in the face, fevers, &c, called Uba Radja, or Culat batu by the 

 Malays, Ulathatu in Amboyna, Djamor bonkang in Java. Fries. 



1327. The Chinese have a fungus called Hoelen, the size of 

 a child's head, and considered a valuable medicine, which is sup- 

 posed to be another species of the genus Pachyma. 



624 



