l62 



Transactions British Mycological Society. 



Name of fungus 



Coprirnis micacens 

 Mycena haematopus 

 Eniolnma rhodopolium 

 I.actaritis quietus 

 Tubaria inqxnlina 

 Naitcoria femxdenia 

 Boletus pruinatus 



,, elegans 

 ,, chrysenteron 

 hadius 

 Polyporus nidulans 



Tremella mesentevica 

 Nectria ciniiabariua 

 Cordyceps militaris 

 Chlorospleuium aeruginosum 

 Clavayia inaequalis 



Colour of alcoholic 

 solution 



Light yellow 

 Red 



Yellow-brown 

 Light yellow-brown 

 Yellow-red 

 Dark brown 

 Light yellow 



Yellow 

 Yellow 

 Dark yellow 

 Yellow (in dilute solu- 

 tion) 

 Yellow 

 Yellow-red 

 Yellow 



Light yellow-green 

 Orange-yellow 



Fluorescence 



Light reddish 

 Slight green 

 Light blue 

 Slight green-blue 

 Red-violet 



\'ery slight yellow-red 

 \'ery slight yellow- 

 green 

 Green 



Verj' slight red 

 Very slight green 

 \exy slight blue-green 



Light blue 

 \'ery slight green 

 Slight green 

 Yery slight green 

 Very slight green 



The colouring matters vary much in solubility, and it is 

 necessary, when they are easily soluble and give a dark 

 coloured solution, to dilute the solution considerably before 

 the fluorescence becomes clearly visible. The colours of the 

 alcoholic solutions given in the above table are those of solutions 

 diluted sufficiently to show the fluorescence most clearly. 

 I have not attempted to give the results obtained with other 

 solvents than alcohol, for although better solutions were some- 

 times obtainable with alcohol and hydrochloric acid, or dilute 

 ammonia, the fluorescence remained much the same. Thus 

 Leptonia lam prop iis gave in methjdated spirit a light grey- 

 blue solution with a light blue fluorescence, in water a yellowish 

 solution with slight blue fluorescence, in 70 per cent, alcohol 

 a yellow-brown solution with blue-green fluorescence, and in 

 dilute ammonia a reddish violet solution with a green or 

 green-blue fluorescence. 



Not all the colouring matters found in any given species of 

 Fungus are fluorescent. Much of the colouring matter which 

 may be extracted in water or alcohol, especially on heating, 

 shows no fluorescence. But with the exception of the caro- 

 tinoid colouring matters they all occur, along with the 

 fluorescent pigments, in the cell membrane or in the gelatinous 

 or mucilaginous layers of the cell membranes. In many Fungi 

 the characteristic colouring, as in Amanita muscaria, appears to 

 be due to pigments contained in the mucilaginous layers, 

 although, as de Bary points out, it is not easy to determine 

 with certainty how the colour is distributed. We have very 

 little knowledge of the functional significance of the colouring 

 matters of the Fungi. From the fact that they are found mainly 

 in the cell membranes and not in the cell contents, and that they 



