36 FUNGALES. [Tiialiogens 



duced, are capable of generating plants belonging to different Orders. This has been 

 long a favoui*ite theory in Germany, bnt it has not been so fully developed before. 

 Natuurhundige VerhancleUngen van lie Holl. Maatsch. der Wetensch. fe Haarlem. Tweede 

 Verz. 1. Beel. 



The subject, as regards the possible development of Algals, &c., from Infusoria, 

 has been rehandled by the same author in a Memoir just pubUshed at Nordhausen. 

 Those who are not con^'inced by his reasonings, will at least be ready to acknow- 

 ledge the great research and patience with which they have been followed out. 

 His observations are entitled to the greater attention, because he is well acquainted 

 with the various forms assumed by cellular plants, though his gi'eat work on Algals 

 scarcely shows him to have accurate notions as to the hmits of genera and species. 



The Fungi by which most extra-tropical countries are inhabited are so numerous, 

 that no one caii safely form even a conjecture as to the number that actually exists. 

 If they are ever fortuitous productions,' the number must be indeterminable ; if many 

 are mere diseases, and the remainder fixed species, then the knowledge of their 

 nature must be reduced to a more settled state before any judgment upon their 

 number can be formed. Fries discovered no fewer than 2000 species within the 

 compass of a square furlong in Sweden ; of Agaricus alone above 1000 species are 

 described ; and of the lower tril^es the number must be mfinite. Sprengel, however, 

 does not enumerate in his Systema VegetahUhim more than between 2700 and 2800 ; 

 but when we consider that his genus Agaricus does not go beyond number 646, 

 although 1000 at least are described, it is not improbable that the rest of his enumera- 

 tion is equally defective, and that the number of described Fungi perhaps amoimts to 

 between 4000 and 5000. Of tropical species we know but little ; their fugitive natm^e, the 

 difficulty of preserAdng them, and perhaps the incm'iousness of travellers, as well as 

 their scarcity in the damp parts of equinoctial countines, have been the causes of 

 the proportion in such chmates between Fungi and other plants being unknown. 

 Mr. Berkeley has taken occasion, from the pubhcation of a list of Java Fungi by 

 Jimghulm, to institute a comparison between those of Java and the Pliilippine collec- 

 tion made by Mr. Cimiing. Neither list can, indeed, be considered as complete, but in 

 both cases the proportion of Fungi remaining to be described is probably much the 

 same. Parts of the Phihppmes are situated in a degree of latitude in the northern 

 hemisphere exactly correspondmg with that of Java in the southern. The number of 

 species described by Jimghuhn is 113, that collected by Cuming about 40. Of these 

 only ^ of the species are common to the two localities, and out of these foxir are spe- 

 cies of Polyporus common to all tropical countries. Of Junghuhn's Fungi Srr-gij- are 

 Coniomycetes, 9=r-j3^ are Hyphomycetes, 7r=^ Gasteromycetes, 1 8=^ Pyrenomycetes, 

 10z=^*^ Discomycetes, and 66, or above -V, H^Tnenomycetes. In Mr. Cummg's collec- 

 tion there are no species of the first, se"cond, and fifth Families ; of the remaining 

 Families l-::^-^ belongs to Gasteromycetes, 5=r^ are Pp'enomycetes, and 33, or more 

 than |-, are H\Tnenomycetes. It will be observed that the proportion of Pvreno- 

 mycetes is the same, and there is even a greater proportion of Hymenomycetes in the 

 Phihppines. Of the Hymenomycetes in Java, 40 are Poh-pori ; in the Phihppines, 19, 

 taking the genus in its widest sense. There is now an opportunity of contrasting with 

 these the Fungi of Cuba, which have been so well worked out by Dr. Montague. 

 The species of that island, as far as at present recorded, are 115, of which 4=r-^ are 

 Coniomycetes, 10=r-J^ Hyphomycetes, 9zr^ Gasteromycetes, 25:=^ P\Tenomycetes, 

 8=-Jg; Discomycetes, and 59:^i Hymenomycetes. The proportion of Pyrenomycetes 

 is nearly the same as in Java and the Philippines, and the predominance of Hj-meno- 

 mycetes is equally striking. Of this number 28, or ^, are European species ; whereas 

 among the Philippine Fungi there are but 2, while in Java there are 42. Of these the 

 greater part are very common species. With the exception of European species, 5 

 only are common to Cuba and Java, and 4 to Cuba and the Philippines ; and these, 

 \s\X\\ one exception, species universally distributed. The species which forms an excep- 

 tion is Micropeltis applanata, which, as it is a mmute Epiphyllous plant, may possibly 

 have been overlooked in other countries. The number of Fmigi peculiar to Cuba is very 

 large. Cuba, then, has but little in common with Java and the Philippines, when the 

 cosmopohtes and European species are excepted. Several species, however, are identical 

 with those of North and South America, extending in one instance even as far as Juan 

 Fernandez ; and there are one or two isolated species which call to mind Maiu-itius, 

 Ceylon, and Australia. The genus Polyporus, as usual, predominates, counting 31 spe- 

 cies, of which 8 are European ; or, if Favolus and Hexagonia be included, the number 



* It will be olisen-ed that in the list of genera given below, the Discomycetes and Pyrenomj-cetes are 

 comprised in one group under the name of Ascomycetes. The Discomycetes correspond with the three 

 first Suborders. 



