1273 

 THE FUNG-I OF INDIA 



BY 



F. Theissen, S. J. 

 Part I. 



(With Plates I to IV and text figures 1 to 10.) 



The fungal flora of India, especially of the Bombay Presidency, 

 has received very little attention up to now. Whilst collections on 

 a larger scale were made in Ceylon, Australia, and New Zealand, 

 we possess, with regard to the Indian mycoflora, but short notices 

 which appeared at great intervals in the scientific journals of the 

 last forty years. It was only during the last ten years that larger 

 collections were made by Mr. W. Gollan, the Superintendent of 

 the Royal Botanic Gardens at Saharanpur, the Rev. E. Blatter, 

 Professor of Botany at St. Xavier's College in Bombay, and 

 quite recently by the Imperial Mycologist, Mr. E. J. Butler, 

 whose extensive materials have been described by Messrs. H. 

 and P. Sydow in the Annales Mycologici of 1906, 1907 and 1911. 



It is not difficult to understand, why the Indian mycoflora has 

 been so much neglected in the past. As it happens very rarely 

 that scientific expeditions, composed of specialists, select India as 

 the field of their explorations, mycologists in Europe have to depend 

 entirely on the good-will and the initiative of amateurs. Much 

 has already been done in this respect by Europeans residing in 

 India, but we feel convinced that many more would be willing to 

 contribute towards the exploration of that vast and interesting 

 country, if they knew how to gather and prepare specimens. We 

 trust, therefore, that a few practical hints for collectors will be 

 welcome. 



As to the literature on Indian fungi, we refer to the 

 ' Bibliography of the Botany of British India and Ceylon ' by 

 E. Blatter, which appeared in Vol. XX, No. 5 of this Journal, 

 p. Ixxix — clxxxv. 



I 

 A Few Hints for Collectors. 

 1. Hoiv to distinguish fungi. 

 Fungi may easily be distinguished from other cryptogamic 



