THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 47 



fungus, and thus scientific curiosity is excited, and the search 

 becomes keen to unravel the complete life-history of that par- 

 ticular form. 



From the latest census (30th January, 1906) given by Saccardo 

 as to the number of fungi, there are 57,660 species, and of rusts 

 there are a little over 3,500 species, so that Australia at present 

 possesses a little over ^^ of the total number of rusts. 



Distribution. — Since the rusts are entirely parasitic, and 

 dependent on host-plants for their existence, it is evident that 

 their distribution will be bound up with the plants on which they 

 prey. Besides, there are large areas which have not yet been 

 sufficiently explored to give any exact idea of the number of 

 species or the distribution of those already known. So that I 

 consider it rather premature to attempt to arrange Australian 

 rusts in their geographical districts, but will simply indicate their 

 distribution in the different States. This arrangement has a 

 certain advantage, for it may lead to the filling up of gaps in the 

 various States, since wherever the host-plants occur which are 

 recorded for the different species, there the parasites might be 

 looked for, if not already known. Perhaps the highest point in 

 Australia at which a rust has been found was on Mt. Kosciusko 

 at a height of about 6,500 feet, when Mr. Maiden discovered the 

 beautiful Caltha introloba F. v. M. flowering beneath the snow 

 and bearing the aecidial stage of a rust which I have provisionally 

 named Aecidium calthce Grev., until the puccinia stage is known. 



The number of recognized genera in Australia is nine, and of 

 these three are what are called form-genera — that is, genera repre- 

 sented by only a single stage of what is believed to be an incom- 

 plete life-history, such as Uredo, Aecidium, and Caeoma. There 

 are sixty genera known altogether, so that only a small propor- 

 tion occurs here. The species are distributed in the different 

 States as follows : — Victoria, 118 species ; New South Wales, 50 ; 

 Queensland, 34 ; South Australia, 27 ; Western Australia, 14 ; 

 Tasmania, 54. 



It will be observed that Victoria heads the list with the largest 

 number of species, and this is not to be taken as indicating that 

 we actually possess the greatest number, but that the territory 

 has been more diligently explored. In Victoria there has been a 

 zealous band of collectors, stimulated into activity by the late 

 Baron von Mueller, and encouraged by a progressive and active 

 Field Naturalists' Club. It may seem invidious to mention 

 individual collectors, but Dr. Morrison and Mr. Reader have both 

 added several species to the list. My colleague, Mr. C. French, 

 F.L.S., Government Entomologist, and his assistant, Mr. C. French, 

 jun., have never lost an opportunity of securing specimens in their 

 frequent collecting trips, and Mr. G. H. Robinson, my own 

 assistant, has been indefatigable in collecting new species. The 



