FUNGI. 



By J. Eamsbottom, B.A. 



Lentinus Tuber-reg-ium Fr. The first description and illustra- 

 tion of this fungus is by Rumphius (Herb. Amboin. vi. lib. xi. 

 120, t. 57 (1750)). The figure represents what seems to be a 

 smooth block of earth on which six agarics are growing. 

 Rumphius calls the former Tubcr-reg'mm and the latter Boleti. 

 He gives a long account of the Tuber: it is vei-y common in 

 spring and autumn during the rainy seasons, and it is then quite 

 soft and not durable. When planted and watered with warm 

 water it produced the Boleti, but perished the next year. In 

 size it varies from the size of a man's fist to that of a child's 

 head. A list of native names for the Tuber is given and it is 

 stated that it is quite common in certain islands, under grass on 

 the mountains and at the roots of tall trees. In spite of this 

 statement it seems that it has not been again met with in the 

 East Indies. 



Fries in his Systema Mycologicum i. 174 (1821) places the 

 " Boletus " in the genus Agaricus and gives a diagnosis drawn up 

 from Rumphius' description. He queries whether the "matrix" 

 is Scleroderma, but later (Syst. Mycol. ii. 243 (1823)) he places it 

 with Sderotium Coros in his new genus Paclnjma. Afterwards 

 in the Epicrisis (392 (1836-8)) the fungus becomes Lentinus 

 Tuher-regiam : the statement " non vidi " is added. 



The next record of L. Tuber-regium is apparently that of 

 Hennings, in Engler Bot. Jahrb. xiv. 351 (1891). He records 

 two specimens, one from Mombassa and one from the Cameroons, 

 and gives a description of the fungus which has been found 

 several times since in the latter district. 



In the present collection there are eight specimens of 

 L. Tuber-regium, representing a series from the youngest stages 

 where the fruit appears as a small cone of tissue (PI. 17, fig. 1) to 

 large specimens over 20 cm. across the cap. In only one case is 

 there a perfect sclerotium, which is an irregular structure 

 measuring in its greatest dimensions 16 x 15 x 10 cm. This 

 bears nine fruit bodies, one of which is very much larger than 

 the others (cf. Rumphius — " Boletus crescit aliquando simplex, 

 aliquando duplex, aliquando plures simul, quorum tamen semper 

 unus maximus est "). There seems little doubt that the fungus 



