126 



Brit. Fung. Flora, i., p. 400. — The following, from the 

 decided smaller size of the spores, seems not to be S. coronilla, 

 Bull.; S. melasperma, Bull.; or S. bilamellata, Peck, all 

 of which it somewhat resembles. On its general likeness to 

 the photograph of S. obturata given by Harper, and from 

 the description of this species quoted by this author, we at 

 present place it here. The cap is not noted as being "rimosely- 

 squamulose" when fresh, but some of our dried specimens 

 suggest that this was the case : — Pileus up to 1\ inches in 

 diameter, eventually plane or a little upturned, edge turned 

 in, slightly sticky, finely woolly or fibrous, with white frag- 

 ments of the veil at the edge, reddish-tan or pale brownish 

 with a violet tinge in one collection. Gills slightly sinuately 

 adnate or simply adnate, broad, moderately close, greyish- 

 brown, then browner, purplish-brown when dry. Stem up to 

 If inch high, silky-white, slightly curved, stout, solid, attenu- 

 ated downwards, with long ramifying white mycelial threads 

 at the base. A marked whitish ring, marked by the gills on 

 its upper-surface, sometimes fragmentary, close to the cap, 

 the stem below the ring with scattered fibrous scales as if 

 from remnants of the veil. Flesh thick, white. Spores dark 

 purplish-brown or purple porphyry, slightly flattened on one 

 side, 6 to 7"5 x 3'4 to 4'8 /a. 



On the ground, Neutral Bay, Sydney, May, 1915, and 

 June, 1916 (D. I. C, Watercolour No. 67); Wahroonga 

 (W. B. Stokes), May, 1915; Lisarow, Juno, 1916 — all in 

 New South Wales. 



61. Stropharia stercoraria, Fries. : Syst. Myc, i., p. 291; 

 Cooke: Illustrs., pi. 538; Massee: Brit. Fung. Flora, i., 

 p. 404. — The chief differences between S. stercoraria and S. 

 semiglobata seem to consist in the former being larger, having 

 a distinct pith in the stem and having larger spores, whilst 

 S. semiglobata has a "persistently hemispherical'' cap. 

 Harper (Trans. Wisconsin Acad, of Sc, Arts, and Letters, 

 vol. xvii., 1914, p. 1022) says that S. stercoraria is dis- 

 tinguished from S. semiglobata by "the more expanded pileus, 

 the stuffed and more floccoee stem, the larger size, larger 

 spores, and plane not clouded gills." He adds, however, 

 that these distinctions do not always hold good, and that he 

 has found the spores of S. semiglobata as large as any 

 described for S. stercoraria. He gives the spores of the former 

 as 13 to 14 x 8 to 9 jut or larger, and of the latter as 

 16 x 10 /a. The common dung Stropharia of Australia seems 

 to be S. stercoraria, inasmuch as it is not "persistently hemi- 

 spherical," but expands, and has spores measuring up to 20 jli 

 or more. The stems, however, are hollow, a characteristic 

 apparently of S. semiglobata as compared with "stuffed with 



