1904-1905-] Hypocrea riccioidea, Berk. 169 



ll.—HYPOGBEA RIGGIOIDEA, Bekk. 

 By Mr JAMES M'ANDREW. 



{Read Dec. 21, 1904.) 



My object in exhibiting and directing your attention to this 

 exceedingly rare and interesting fungus is that perhaps in our 

 excursions some member may be fortunate enough to gather 

 it. As there are many places round Edinburgh suitable for 

 its growth, there is no reason why it should not be found. 

 It grows on dead willow in damp marshy places, and when in 

 vigorous growth forms conspicuous patches of a fleshy, orange, 

 and lobed appearance like a Eiccia. I gathered it near New 

 Galloway in 1878, sent it to the late Eev. Dr Stevenson of 

 Glamis, wlio, not knowing the species, forwarded it to the late 

 Eev. M. J. Berkeley, who wrote to ' The Gardeners' Chronicle 

 of April 27, 1878, the following note: — 



" The Rev. John Stevenson has just sent from Glamis on a branch of 

 willow the Sphceria riccioidea, Bolton, which has, we believe, not been 

 found in this country since 1790. Both the Fig. and description of 

 Bolton, as far as they go, are excellent, even to the greenish matter on 

 the older portions of the fungus. It was found in the autumn of the 

 same year by Tode, who gives a Fig. of it under the name Acrosperma 

 lichenoides in his 'Fungi of Mecklenburg.' Mons. Lamy found it near 

 Limoges, and a Fig. was given from his specimens by Dr Montague in 

 ' Annales des Sciences Naturelles ' for 1836, who did not, however, identify 

 it with the plant of Bolton. These, we believe, are the only occasions on 

 which this rare and interesting species has been found, and its re-occur- 

 rence, therefore, is worthy of record. It belongs to the modern genus 

 Hi/pocrea." 



Dr Stevenson sent the above note to ' The Scottish Natur- 

 alist' of July 1878, and adds that I had sent him sufficient 

 specimens to admit of its being included in the First Fascic- 

 ulus of the Cryptogamic Society of Scotland. 



Dr M. C. Cooke, in his ' Handbook of British Fungi,' gives 

 Halifax as a locality for it, but whether of the date 1790 or 

 not is not mentioned. I may say that I gathered it in four 

 different localities in the neighbourhood of New Galloway, in 

 the centre of Kirkcudbrightshire. 



