come to think about it there is no more reason why a phalloid should not be 

 eaten than why one should not eat Limburger cheese. The odors are very 

 similar, and the writer has to acknowledge a weakness for the product of our 

 German friends. I think, however, there is no possibility of his acquiring a taste 

 for phalloids. 



PHALLUS IMPERIALIS AND PHALLUS IMPUDICUS. 



We extract the following from an interesting letter from Professor A. 

 Jaczewski, St. Petersburg, Russia. 



"I can not quite agree with your writings about Phallus imperialis and 

 Phallus impudicus being the same species, for I find, at least in Russian speci- 

 mens, a great and marked difference, not only in the color of the volva that has 

 naturally no great importance, but in the shape of the egg and in the markings 

 of the pileus. The egg of Phallus imperialis, instead of being globose as is that 

 of impudicus, is elongated in shape and the reticulations of the pilei are much 

 larger." 



Our best thanks are returned to Professor Jaczewski for advising us as to 

 these points. He also calls to our -attention that the volva of impudicus habit- 

 ually breaks and remains as a sort of cap or pileus. That is a usual character 

 also in this country as I have frequently noted from specimens, and as Professor 

 Peck noted when he discovered it was a "new genus." 



Professor A. Jaczewski reports concerning specimens that I sent him from 

 America that our American plant appears quite different to him from the 

 European in the reticulations of the pileus. It is a question whether our Ameri- 

 can plant should be referred to Phallus imperialis or as a pink variety of Phallus 

 impudicus. 



THE PHALLOIDS OF MAURITIUS. 



We extract the following from a letter from C. A. O'Connor, of Mauri- 

 tius, and publish it, as it is such information regarding the distribution of 

 phalloids that leads to a better knowledge of them. 



"I have found hundreds of Phallus indusiatus growing in sugar cane fields 

 during the rainy season. They were of different shape, size, and color. Some 

 were as large as the form you named P. mauritianus ; others only one-fourth 

 and even less than this size. Several had their veil of orange color, others 

 light pink, and many pure white. Plants were also observed with rudimentary 

 veils ; a few had their veils attached to the pileus instead of the stem as is 

 usually the case. An appreciable difference was also noticed in the size of the 

 meshes of the different forms. A name juggler would have had a fine oppor- 

 tunity of creating at least a half dozen new species. In the most common form 

 the veil is rigid when the plants are collected a few hours after sunrise ; as soon 

 as the heat of the sun reaches them the veil hangs loosely down and has not 

 the same appearance as that of a plant which has just ruptured its volva. 



"I have not yet found any Simblum periphragmoides resembling Fig. 83, 

 page 64 of the Synopsis of the Known Phalloids. Probably it is an abnormal 

 form. Mr. Telfair, who sent the specimen to Hooker at Kew, was the proprietor 

 of a sugar estate in the vicinity where I reside, and I would surely have come 

 across this Phalloid if it grew commonly here." 



It will be noted that Mr. O'Connor's observations confirm the opinion of 

 Professor Fetch that species based on the coloration, such as Phallus multicolor 

 and Phallus callichrpus, can not be maintained as distinct forms of the type, 

 white form, Phallus indusiatus. He also confirms Professor Fetch's observation 

 that Phallus Moelleri, cfr, Synopsis, page 19, fig. 13, is only an early condition 

 of the same plant. 



Further Appreciation of Prof. McGinty. "I greatly enjoy your breezy, in- 

 dependent way of writing, and pray convey to the redoubtable Professor McGinty 

 my appreciation of his researches. I wish he might turn his mind to the Sper- 

 matophytes, for a great field is open to a man of his talents." Extract from 

 a letter from P. Cal. 



508 



