[ 129 ] 



VIII. On some new Fungi. By the Rev. M. J. Berkeley, 31. A., F.L.S. 



Read May 5th, 1857. 



A VERY valuable collection of Fungi has been lately made by Fendler in Venezuela, 

 which are now in the hands of the Eev. M. A. Curtis of South Carolina, and will shortly 

 be offered for sale. The collection abounds in new species, of which I have selected three 

 as peculiarly interesting, with the intention of bringing one or two more under the notice 

 of the Society at some future meeting. To these I have added a description of a new 

 species of Mitremyces from South Carolina, and of a very curious genus of Hypogseous 

 Fungi lately received from Tasmania, with many other good things, through the kindness 

 of Mr. Archer. The Tasmanian collection \vill shortly be described m Dr. Hooker's Tas- 

 manian Flora, but this genus is so curious that it deserves previously a more especial 

 notice. 



1. Hydnum brunneoleucum. Berk. & Curt. Pileo flabeUiformi arcuato tenui luteo- 



brunneo glabro ; hymenio paUido setulis vahdis consperso. 

 On dead wood. Venezuela {Fendler). 



PUeus thin, flabelliform, vaulted, 1^ inch long, nearly as much broad, yeUowish-brown, 

 smooth, slightly streaked behind. Hymenium whitish, sprinkled with many scattered 

 strong bristles. 



This species is closely allied to Sydnum flavum, Berk. {Feziza flava, Swartz), a figure 

 of which was published in the Annals of Nat. Hist. vol. x., from an original specimen in 

 the British Museum. It occurs in Venezuela as well as Jamaica, and is no. 129 of 

 Fendler's collection. It differs from the present species not only in colour, but in the 

 bristles being divided above. Both belong to Fries' genus Kneiffia, but its characters 

 scarcely separate it with sufficient precision from Hydnum. S. brimneoleucwm is exactly 

 a Kneiffia, but then Hydmim luteum, which is clearly congeneric, approaches so closely 

 to Hydnum, that I know not how to separate it. The two species have a peculiar, Peziza- 

 like habit which at once distinsruishes them from aU others. 



-'a^ 



2. Craterellus paptracetjs. Berk. & Curt. Pileo centraU tennissimo umbilicato cocci- 



neo glabro ; stipite gracUi subaequali fusco ; hymenio la3vi ochraceo. 

 Venezuela {Fendler). 



PUeus 3^ inches across, extremely thin, umbUicate or very broadly infundibulifonn, 

 smooth, slightly fissured at the margin which is arched, bright scarlet, with a few vein- 

 like pencUings in the umbUicus ; stem 4 inches high, not a line thick, smooth, reddish- 

 browTi, equal except at the very base, where it is slightly dilated as it springs from the 

 matted mycelium. Hymenium quite smooth, ochraccous. 



VOL. XXII. s 



