FUNGE 
By J. RAMSBOTTOM, B.A. 
Lentinus Tuber-regium Fr. The first description and illustra- 
tion of this fungus is by Rumphius (Herb. Amboin. vi. lib. xi. 
120, t. 57 (1750)). The figure represents what seems to be a 
smooth block of earth on which six agarics are growing. 
Rumphius calls the former Tuber-regium and the latter Boleti. 
He gives a long account of the Tuber: it is very common in 
spring and autumn during the rainy seasons, and it is then quite 
soft and not durable. When planted and watered with warm 
water it produced the Boleti, but perished the next year. In 
size it varies from the size of a man’s fist to that of a child’s 
head. A list of native names for the Tuber is given and it is 
stated that it is quite common in certain islands, under grass on 
the mountains and at the roots of tall trees. In spite of this 
statement it seems that it has not been again met with in the 
East Indies. 
Fries in his Systema Mycologicum i. 174 (1821) places the 
“ Boletus” in the genus Agaricus and gives a diagnosis drawn up 
from Rumphius’ description. He queries whether the * matrix " 
is Scleroderma, but later (Syst. Mycol. ii. 243 (1823)) he places it 
with Selerotium Cocos in his new genus Pachyma. Afterwards 
in the Epicrisis (392 (1836-8)) the fungus becomes Lentinus 
Tuber-regium : the statement * non vidi” is added. 
The next record of L. Tuber-regium is apparently that of 
Hennings, in Engler Bot. Jahrb. xiv. 351 (1891). He records 
two specimens, one from Mombassa and one from the Cameroons, 
and gives a description of the fungus which has been found 
several times since in the latter district. 
In the present collection there are eight specimens of 
L. Tuber-regium, representing a series from the youngest stages 
where the fruit appears as a small cone of tissue (Pl. 17, fig. 1) to 
large specimens over 20 cm. across the cap. In only one case is 
there a perfect sclerotium, which is an irregular structure 
measuring in its greatest dimensions 16 x 15 x 10 cm. This 
bears nine fruit bodies, one of which is very much larger than 
the others (cf. Rumphius—“ Boletus crescit aliquando simplex, 
aliquando duplex, aliquando plures simul, quorum tamen semper 
unus maximus est") There seems little doubt that the fungus 
