The South Australian Naturalist. 69 



as well as specimens of the higher Basidiomycetes, comprising 

 mushrooms, puff balls, and their allies. The peculiar shapes 

 and glowing: colours of many of the specimens were well 

 brought out. The poisonous nature of many of the fungi was 

 dealt with, and the lecturer stated that in general the follow- 

 ing points distinguished the safe mushrooms, viz.: First, the 

 skin peels off ; second, the gills have a rosy tint from the first, 

 and this becomes darker with age; third, the stem has a ring 

 found it ; fourth, it has no cup or swelling at the base of the 

 stem. These four points distinguish the safe mushrooms, 

 though there are some others which are knoAvn to be non- 

 poisonous. Any with white gills are to be avoided. Some 

 forms when eaten cause delirium., and in less quantity 

 hysterical laughter. 



BOTANICAL NOTES. 



By Ernest H. Ising. 



Loranthus Exocarpi, Behr. — I have noted some of this 

 mistletoe growing on the weeping pittosporum (P. philly- 

 raeoides, D.C.) at Islington for several years. This species 

 flowers in midsummer, about January, and the berries, or, 

 more strictly, the drupes, are ripe in April. The drupes are 

 first green, changing to orange and red and finally to purple, 

 and are nearly half-an-inch long. The flowers are very pretty, 

 being mostly scarlet with green tips. The leaves are about two 

 inches long, oblong in shape, dark green and fairly stiff, and 

 always in pairs. The plant grows to a good size, and is para- 

 sitic on different native trees. 



The germination of the fruit is very interesting. The 

 seed will germinate whether the outer skin is removed or not, 

 but I have noticed that growth takes place more quickly when 

 the seed is released from its outer covering. The drupe con- 

 tains one seed about a quarter of an inch long and ovoid in 

 shape. It is pale coloured, and has six or seven green stripes 

 near the top. The first growth appears in several days at the 

 top end, and this root (?) in seventeen days grew three- 

 quarters of an inch long. It consists of a cylindrical portion 

 about 2 mm. thick, whitish, sticky, and tuberculate, with an 

 enlarged ball-like tip with a fringe around it. 



I have several seeds growing on dead twigs indoors, and 

 in no instance has the root turned towards the wood on which 

 it is placed. 



The continuation of this experiment should reveal further 

 movements of the root and the development of the first shoot. 



