AN EDIBLE TAHITIAN FUNGUS. 263 
pearance from the true B. aphylla* I had now no doubt that Mr. C. 
was the discoverer of B. indasiata in this district. On 24th May last 
I visited the place, but failed to find any trace of the plant ; a few 
weeks later, Mr. C. and Mr. Koy were equally unsuccessful ; the ori- 
ginal station was in an old wood of Scotch Fir, which was cut down a 
lew years ago, and the surface thus very much altered. It then oc- 
curred to me that near the village of Aboyne, where decayed stumps 
and prostrate stems of Fir are plentiful, the Buxbaumia might probably 
be found. Accordingly, in company with Mr. John Koy, a very dili- 
gent muscologist, I went to the place ; we had searched but a short 
time, when Mr. Hoy found a few specimens on a prostrate stem ; further 
search yielded in all eleven specimens, some of which were imperfect. 
On the 29th of July, I revisited the locality, and found on one decay- 
mg stem of Fir eleven setae, some with and some without fragments 
of capsules, and one perfect specimen, the largest of all as yet gathered 
here. 
This very fine and -rare species will doubtless be met with in other 
places ; at Aboyne it occurs on rotten stems of Fir, in moist spots 
shaded by the common Brake Fern. 
AN EDIBLE TAHITIAN FUNGUS. 
Mr. Brander, a well-known merchant, resident in Tahiti, supplies 
us with the following note on the edible Fungus of that place. We 
re gret that the specimens promised us have, as yet, not been received , 
hut we are yet in hopes of receiving them. Quantities of this fungus 
are often sent to Sydney. Mr. Brander writes :— " What is called 
' fungus ' in our export list, is an article of commerce found in the 
islands of the South Pacific, principally the Society and Leeward Is- 
] ands, on decayed trees. The Tahitians call it ' Teria iore ' (i. e. * rat's 
e ar ') from a certain resemblance of the shape of the plant to the ear 
of a rat. The Fundus first bejran to be collected in 1863, and fetches 
a"-" ***•" — o 
ln China, where it is much esteemed, and made into soups, lrom 
ei ghteeu to twenty cents per pound." 
• It may be necessary to state that toI. ii. of Hooker's « British Flora' was 
«hc only authority accessible at the time ; in that work B. mdusiata is given 
synonym of B. aphylla. 
