486 



aestivation, and are not iinguiculate; the coats of the carpels are also 

 very thick, and the carpels themselves are perfectly closed, not even 

 opening when they separate for the dissemination of the seed : in all 

 which particulars the plant differs from the usual structure of Lineae. 

 The paper contains full generic and specific characters, and is il- 

 lustrated by a plate of details drawn by Mr. J. D, Sowerby. 



V. — On an edible Fungus from Tierra del Fuego, and an allied Chilian 

 Species. By the Rev. M. J. Berkeley, M.Jl., F.L.S. 



Read March 16, 1841. 



Mr. Darwin gives an account in his Researches of a production 

 common on a species of beech in Tierra del Fuego, which is used by 

 the natives as an article of food. The author's belief that these bo- 

 dies were referrible to the Fungi, was confirmed by an inspection of 

 the specimens preserved by Mr. Darwin, and by the perusal of that 

 gentleman's original notes. With the aid of these materials he 

 has been able to establish a new genus (which he has named Cyttaria), 

 containing two well-defined species. 



The following extracts from Mr, Darwin's rough memoranda relate 

 to the first species — C- Darwinii. 



" In the beech forests the trees are much diseased ; on the rough excrescences 

 grow vast numbers of yellow balls. They are of the colour of the yolk of an egg, and 

 vary in size from that of a bullet to that of a small apple ; in shape they are globular, 

 but a little produced towards the point of attachment. They grow both on the bran- 

 ches and stems in groups. When young they contain much fluid and are tasteless, 

 but in their older and altered state they form a very essential article of food for the 

 Fuegiau. The boys collect them, and they are eaten uncooked with the fish. When 

 we were in Good Success Bay in December, they were then young ; in this state they 

 are externally quite smooth, turgid, and of a bright colour, with no internal cavity. 

 The external surface was marked with white spaces, as of a membrane covering a cell. 

 Upon keeping one in a drawer, my attention was called, after some interval, by find- 

 ing it become nearly dry, the whole surface honeycombed by regular cells, with the 

 decided smell of a Fungus, and with a slightly sweet mucous taste. In this state I 

 have found them during January and February (1833) over the whole country. Upon 

 dividing one, the centre is found partly hollow and filled with brown fibrous matter ; 

 this evidently merely acts as a support to the elastic semitransparent ligamentous sub- 

 stance which forms the base and sides of the external cells. Some of these balls re- 

 main on the trees nearly the whole year ; Captain Fitzroy has seen them in June." — p. 38. 



Mr. Darwin found the same species at Port Famine in February, 

 1 834 ; and again, under the date of June of the same year, he de- 

 scribes the appearance in an older state. He found them to be much 

 infested with larvae. 



