I'KI-:Sil>KXTIAI. ADDKKSS SKCIK ).\ l'. i)LJ 



about Lion's IJead at Capetown. A good illustration of this 

 fungus is given in Marloth's " Flora," Vol. I, Plate 3, Fig. i;. 



Some eleven years later Prof. Gustav Kunze (47), in a short 

 note in '" Flora," described Sccotium Qneinzii, which was col- 

 lected by ltd Ileitis in sandy places at the Ca])e in 1H39. and 

 shortly afterwards by Zeyher at Uitenhage. 



The genus Sccotitim was founded on this specimen. The 

 plant is about 3 to 4 inches in height ; the peridium 2 to 3 inches 

 in diameter, while the stem is firm and runs right into the interior 

 of the peridium. 



About 20 species are known ; the majority come from Aus- 

 tralia and New Zealand. Several are found in Africa, North 

 America and Furope. 



So much for the early fragments of South .\frican m\co- 

 logy. 



The first detailed and systematic account of South African 

 fungi appeared in 1S43. ^'"titled " Fungi collected by Zevher in 

 Uitenhage." 



This paper was published by Miles Joseph FJerkeley (1), 

 the British mycologist, in Hooker's London Journal of Botany. 

 The specimens recorded amounted to 31 species, of which 13 

 were described as new. The majority belonged to the Hyme- 

 nomycetes, and included such types as could be more readily 

 preserved. 



Berkeley, in the introduction to his ])aper, remarked on the 

 extraordinary paucity of certain genera which even in those 

 days were regarded as cosmopolitan ; included amongst these 

 were the Polypori, of which only five were mentioned. CJne of 

 them, Polyponts sangitincits Fr., is of exceptional interest to 

 me, because it is recorded " on decayed stems of Aloe africana, 

 Uitenhage.'' I refer to it here because I have received specimens 

 of this same fungus on a variety of species of aloe from many 

 localities in South Africa, and I have reason to believe that the 

 fungus is truly parasitic upon this host. 



Berkeley, even at this time, was regarded an one of the fore- 

 most mycologists of the day, and through the influence of Sir 

 \\'illiam Hooker, had at his disposal most, if not all. of the 

 exotic fungi that passed through Kew. 



It is not surprising, therefore, to find Berkeley's name as.-o- 

 ciated with many of the mycological treasures discovered at 

 the Cape by the botanical collectors of his time. 



Most of Zeyher's fungi are now preserved in the Herbariiun 

 at Kew. 



Thus, shortly after this Berkeley (2). in the same journal. 

 in a paper entitled " On Two Hymenomycetous Fungi belonging 

 to the Lycoperdaceous Group," described Polyplocium inqiiinans, 

 which was collected on the banks of the Orange River by Burke 

 and Zeyher, and also discussed briefly the fungus Secotinm 

 Oueinzii Kunze. which has alreadv been referred to above. 



