200 



SCLEROTIUM STIPITATUM-PACHYMA COCOS. 



iseo. The specimens, indeed, are not so much advanced as those of 



the Luy-wan, so that the peculiar sacs are few and only partially 

 developed ; but there is no doubt that the structure of the two 

 is identical. 



I860. 



Sclerotium 

 utipitatum. 



Fungoid 

 nature. 



Peziza 

 tuberosa. 



EEMAEKS ON SCLEROTIUM STIPITATUM, BERK. ET 



CURR., PACHYMA COCOS, FRIES, AND SOME 



SIMILAR PRODUCTIONS. 



BY FREDERICK CURREY, M.A., AND DANIEL HANBURY. 

 (Read before the Linnean Society, May 3, 1860.) 



WE have investigated with some attention the nature of the 

 body to which, in the preceding paper, Mr. Berkeley has given 

 the name of Sclerotium stipitatum, and have compared it with the 

 other tuberiform bodies described by him in a former paper 

 published in the 3rd volume of the Journal of this Society. 

 These other bodies a^Pachyma Cocos, Fries (the Pe-foo-ling of the 

 Chinese) : the substance called in China Choo-ling ; and Professor 

 Horaninow's Mylitta lapidescens. We have thought that a few 

 additional remarks, accompanied by figures of the specimens 

 and of their microscopic structure, may facilitate future inquiries, 

 which are much needed in order to arrive at a satisfactory con- 

 clusion as to the nature of these anomalous productions. 



And first with regard to Sclerotium stipitatum. PL IX. Figs. 

 1, 2, and 3 represent the only three specimens which have 

 hitherto reached this country, nearly their natural size. We 

 are quite of Mr. Berkeley's opinion, that they are of a fungoid 

 nature, although it is impossible to speculate as to what the 

 perfect state may be. Several hard, shapeless, fungoid bodies, 

 the nature of which was long misunderstood, have been found 

 to produce, under favourable circumstances, perfect fungi of 

 well-known and very diverse genera. The tuber from which 

 Peziza tuberosa is ultimately produced was supposed by Hedwig 

 to be a dried anemone root ; and the true nature of the common 

 ergot of rye was quite unknown until Tulasne called attention 

 to the fact that it consists only of compact mycelium, which 



