BY D. McALPINE. 705 



which sometimes injure the lawns in suburban districts. The 

 Fairy-ring Fungus (Marasmius oreades, Fr.j has not been found 

 in Australia. 



The ring-forming habit belongs also to lichens and mosses, as 

 well as some of the higher plants, and in Sweden a grass popularly 

 known as elf dansar has become celebrated as the ring- forming 

 plant. 



L. furfuraceum, Schaeff., is here newly recorded for Australia, 

 although from the perplexing synonymy given by Saccardo* it 

 might seem as if already recorded. 



L. pusillum, Batsch, was determined by Kalchbrennerf in 1875, 

 and was sent to him from Rockhampton, in Queensland. Then 

 Dr. Cooke, in his " Fungi Australiani," gives the same species 

 for New South Wales and West Australia in addition to Queens- 

 land, and Saccardo,; in his " Sylloge Fungorum," makes L. 

 furfur ace am, Schaeff., the equivalent of L. pusillum, Batsch. 



These two species differ considerably in size, but the main 

 distinction lies in the former having a well developed sterile base, 

 while in the latter it is obsolete. So important is this difference 

 from the systematic point of view, that in the modern classifica- 

 tion of the genus Lycoperdon there are two leading divisions 

 recognised — (1) those with sterile base rudimentary or absent, 

 and (2) those with sterile basal stratum well developed. L. 

 pusillum, already recorded for Australia, belongs to the first 

 division, while L. furfuraceum belongs to the second division; 

 and there is no doubt upon this point, since Schaeffer in his 

 original drawings of the species shows the sterile base as in our 

 own specimens. The present species has also been verified by 

 Massee of the Royal Gardens, Kew, England, so that its identity 

 may be regarded as established. In the suburbs of Melbourne 

 this species was very common indeed, and could be gathered by 

 hundreds in the season, and it is somewhat surprising that it 

 should have been so long overlooked, unless it is one of those 



* Syll. Fung. Vol. vii. p. 110 (188S). 



t Grevillea, Vol. iv. p. 74 (1875). 



% Loc. cit. 



