487 



The second species — C. Beileroi — is a native of Chile, and is 

 found upon Fagus obliqua. It appears to have been first described 

 by Bertero, in a posthumous list of Fungi published in a journal call- 

 ed * Mercurio Chileno,' a translation of which by Ruschenberger was 

 given in Silliman's Journal, xxiii. 78. The following is Bertero's 

 account. 



" Fagus obliqua, Mirb., Roble, oak, a tree common in the high mountains. In the 

 spring is formed on the hranches of this tree a great number of whitish tubercles, the 

 parenchyma of which is spongy, though sufficiently consistent at first. I thought it a 

 galla or exci'escence, produced by the wound of some insect, as is seen on some other 

 trees in Europe, and I gave the matter but little attention ; but two days afterwards 

 they became unglued from the branch, and I observed with surprise that the skin was 

 broken, and the whole surface covered with pentagonal tubes precisely similar to the 

 alveoli of a honeycomb, at first full of a gelatinous substance of the colour of milk, 

 which disappeared with the maturation ; afterwards throwing out from these cavities 

 with some force an impalpable powder, when it was touched, exactly as is observed in 

 the Peziza vesiculosa. At the end of two days these bodies softened, lost their expul- 

 sive property, and rotted. It perhaps forms a new genus, approximating to the Sphse- 

 riag. Its vulgar name is Dignenes. Some persons eat them, but their insipid and 

 styptic taste is disagreeable." — p, 39. 



The following extract from Mr. Darwin's notes also refers to this 

 species. 



" Sept. 1834. On the hills near Nancagua and San Fernando, there are large 

 woods of Roble, or the Chilian oak. I found on it a yellow fungus, very closely re- 

 sembling tbe edible ones of the beech of Tierra del Fuego. Speaking from memory, 

 the difference consists in these being paler coloured, but the inside of the cups of a 

 darker orange. The greatest difference is, however, in the more irregular shape, in 

 place of being spherical : they are also much larger. Many are three times as large 

 as the largest of my Fuegian specimens. The footstalk appears longer; this is neces- 

 sary from the roughness of the bark of the trees on which they grow. In the young 

 state there is an internal cavity. They are occasionally eaten by the poor people. I 

 observe that these are not infested with larvae, like those of Tierra del Fuego." — Id. 



Mr. Berkeley gives generic and specific characters, as well as a full 

 description in English ; and the illustrative plate is filled with anato- 

 mical details from his own drawings. 



VII. — Oh a reformed Character of the Genus Cryptolepis, Brown. By 

 Hugh Falconer, M.D., Superindendent of the Hon. East India 

 Company s Botanic Garden at Saharunpore. Communicated by J. F. 

 RoYLE, M.D., F.R.S., F.L.S., &c. 



Read June 16th, 1841. 

 The genus Cryptolepis was established by Mr. Brown, who, in his 

 Monogra])h published in the * Memoirs of the Wernerian Society,' re- 



