UNDERGROUND FUNGI OF TASMANIA. 489 
Of the underground fungi belonging to the Gasteromycetes, the 
greater number form an order of their own—the Hymenogas- 
tracece, a very natural order of closely allied forms. Others, 
however, belong to the order Lycoperdacee—aberrant forms of 
great interest, as pointing out lines of descent. Those belonging 
to the Zuberoides have little in common; their relationship one 
to the other is distant. 
Cooke, in his “‘ Handbook of Australian Fungi,” drew attention 
to the relatively large number of Gasteromycetes described in 
Australia, but observed a weakness in subterranean species. That 
this weakness was simply due to want of research I think this 
paper will amply prove. When the Handbook was published in 
1892 there were twelve subterranean G'asteromycetes, ten of which 
belonged to the order Hymenogastracee, for the whole of Aus- 
tralia. Very little search, and that in three spots close to Hobart, 
has enabled me, within the last two years, to add to this eleven 
more, eight of which are new to science ; in other words, in three 
small valleys I have found more species of Hymenogastracee, new 
at least to Australia, than had hitherto been described. We now 
stand in this position: In England, where there are something 
more than 4,900 described fungi, there are twenty-three Wymeno- 
gasters. In Australia there are eight to about 2,400 species, and 
in Tasmania we have already recorded no fewer than fourteen 
such plants in our small flora of about 550 species. The Australian 
and Tasmanian lists being compiled without the group having 
received reasonable attention, we can only conclude they will 
swell in the future to most surprising proportions. The following 
is a list of the fungi of purely subterranean habit that have, up 
to the present, been recorded in Tasmania. The new species, 
except Stephensia varia, have been described in the Kew Bulletin 
during the present year, but I am still uninformed of the date. 
The other new Australian forms are identified by Geo. Massee, but 
I have not received a record of their author’s publication. 
Stephensia varia is described in the “ Transactions of the Royal 
Society,” Tasmania, December, 1897. 
GASTEROMYCETIS, 
Octaviana archeri, Berk ; Hydnangium tasmanicum, Kalch.; 
H, australiense, B. et Br.; JL. carneum, Klot. ; Hysterangiwm 
affine, Mass. et Rod. ; H. membranaceum, Vitt.; H. fusisporum, 
Mass. et Rod. ; //. clathroides, Vitt. ; //. viscidum, Mass. et Rod. ; 
Gymnomyces pallidus, Mass. et Rod.; G.seminudus, Mass. et Rod. ; 
Hymenogaster rodwayi, Mass. ; MH. violaceus, Mass. et Rod. ; H. 
albellus, Mass. et Rod ; Secotiwm rodwayt, Mass. ; Diploderma 
glauca, C. et M.; Mesophellia arenaria, Berk. 
