78 Transactions British Mycological Society. 



BRITISH LABOULBENIACEAE. 



A CATALOGUE OF THE BRITISH SPECIMENS IN THE 

 THAXTER COLLECTION AT THE BRITISH MUSEUM. 



By Winifrede L. Hake. 



Up to the present time there have been only two species of 

 the Laboulbeniaceae recorded in British mycological writings, 

 namely Stigmatomyces purpureus Thaxt. and Laboulbenia vul- 

 garis Peyr. which were noted by Biffen in Trans. Brit. Mycol. 

 Soc. Ill (1909), p. 8^. There is, however, a large collection of 

 slides of the Laboulbeniaceae in the British Museum which 

 were presented by Professor Roland Thaxter in 1909, consisting 

 of specimens from all parts of the world. In this collection there 

 are twenty-six British species, live of which have so far only 

 been found in this country, making a total of twenty-eight 

 species. A large proportion of the specimens were collected in 

 the suburbs of London and it seems probable that there may 

 be many more species as yet undiscovered. 



The hosts are mainly small beetles belonging to the family 

 Staphylinidae of which the common Devil's Coach Horse beetle 

 is perhaps the most familiar example, and others of the Caratidae 

 which is the family that includes all the ordinary Ground beetles. 



Thaxter in his 1896 Monograph describes the likely places 

 to find the hosts, which is in the vicinity of water, under stones, 

 rubbish, among grass roots and so on, and he further states 

 that "5 to 50 per cent, of the hosts will be infected." 



The following list gives the details of each slide and is arranged 

 according to Thaxter's order in his second monograph. Species 

 which have so far been recorded only from this country are 

 indicated by an asterisk. 



In order to economise space in the references "Mon. (1896) " 

 and "Mon. (1908) " are used to refer to Thaxter's "Monograph 

 of the Laboulbeniaceae" in the Memoirs of the American 

 Academy of Arts and Sciences, xii (1896), and "Contribution 

 toward a monograph of the Laboulbeniaceae, Part 11," in the 

 same publication, xiii (1908), respectively. 



DICHOMYCES. 



D. vulgatus Thaxt. in Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts and Sci. xxxv (1900), p. 424; 

 Mon. (1908), p. 251, pi. XXXI, figs. 5-9. 



On Philonthus varians Peck. Ealing. B.M. No. 359. 



In the collection there are two slides both numbered 359, one of which is 

 a co-type. The perithecium in this genus may have a "slightly recurved ear-like 

 outgrowth," as seen in two specimens on No. 359 co-type or this outgrowth 

 may not be developed as in the five specimens on the second slide. 



[On P. dimidiatus Erich. Notting Hill, England. B.M. No. 761: not in the 

 collection.] 



