COLOURS OF FUNGI 165 



COLOURS OF FUNGI 



Respecting the origin or uses of colours in fungi, but 

 little is known with certainty. Clear bright colours are 

 present in some of the larger Pezizae, Peziza aurantia^ P. 

 coccinea,Qte., butit is in the Basidiomycetes that we encounter 

 the greatest variety of brilliant tints. Red passing through 

 orange to yellow are the predominating colours, and many 

 of these are stated by Zopf to belong to the group of 

 carotins. From the perithecia of Bulgaria inquinans this 

 author isolated and extracted six substances : (i) A red 

 substance, soluble in water, called bulgarerythrine ; (2) 

 A second red body, insoluble in water, bulgariine ; (3) A 

 blue substance, insoluble in water, bulgarocoerulene ; (4) 

 A resinous acid, ranging from reddish-yellow to reddish- 

 brown, bulgaric acid ; (5) An amorphous yellow body, 

 soluble in water, in very small quantity, and could not be 

 chemically examined ; (6) A yellow oil. 



Certain colours or shades are often characteristic of 

 genera, or sections of genera. In one group of Hygro- 

 phorus all the species are brilliantly coloured, ranging from 

 deep crimson to canary-yellow in different species. Blue 

 is the predominating colour in the genus Leptonia. In 

 L. chalybea every part is deep ultramarine, in other species 

 the blue is not so pure, whereas in several species the stem 

 alone retains the blue colour. It is a significant fact, 

 probably indicative of a common origin, that in several 

 groups of allied species, there is a common bond indicated 

 by the predominance of some one colour present in the 

 stem. As an instance, the blue or greenish-blue colour of 

 the base of the stem in several species of Inocybe may be 

 noted. 



