276 



We describe our specimens as follows: — Pileus up to 

 2\ inches in diameter, convex, centre depressed, edge some- 

 times turned up, of various tints of dark purple, purplish-red, 

 rosy-purple, or pallid yellow, the general tone being purplish, 

 edge slightly striate, cuticle occasionally apparently slightly 

 sticky when moist. Flesh white, perhaps faintly purple under 

 the thick cuticle. Gills moderately close, white, becoming 

 pale yellowish, fading away at the stem to adnate. Stem 

 moderately stout, a little swollen below or sometimes attenu- 

 ated downwards, tinged with rosy-pink, rarely whitish only, 

 hollow, pithy, base rooting. Spores warty, spherical to 

 slightly oval, 7'2 to 9 \x. Taste mild. Sydney, May; Milson 

 Island, Hawkesbury River, March, April, May, Novembers- 

 Mount Lofty, S. Austr., July (gills yellow); Portions fed 

 to a pig and to a rabbit produced no ill-effects. (Miss Clarke, 

 Watercolour 65.) 



The following are in the National Collection at the 

 Botanic Gardens, Sydney: — Helensburgh (W. Craigie) ; 

 Leura (A. A. Hamilton), April, 1908: Mosman (E. Cheel), 

 May, 1912; Gladesville (Miss M. Flockton), April, 1910; 

 Hawkesbury River (J. B. Cleland), April, 1910; Brownsville 

 (E. Cheel), April, 1910. 



112. Russula xerampelina, Fr. : Epicr., p. 356; Cooke: 

 Illustrs., pis. 1053 and 1074; Massee: Brit. Fung. Flora, 

 iii., p. 60. — We refer the following to tlris species. It agrees 

 well with the illustrations given by Cooke: — Pileus up to 

 3h inches across, irregular, rather depressed in the centre, 

 splitting and cracking, pallid whitish blotched with bright- 

 brownish vermilion. Gills adnate, moderately close, some- 

 times forking, occasionally in deformed specimens forming 

 irregular pores near the stem, pale buffy- white. Stem 

 2tt inches high, \\ inch thick above, stout, attenuated down- 

 wards, root rather conical, nbrously striate, white with tinges 

 of pinkish. Flesh solid, white. Slight smell. Rather rigid. 

 Taste mild. Spores pale-tinted microscopically, warty, 8'5 to 

 105 /a. Partly buried in the ground. Mount Lofty, 

 S. Austr., April, 1917. 



113. Russula azurea, Bres. : Fungi Trident., t. 24; 

 Cooke: Illustrs., pi. 1088; Massee : Brit. Fung. Flora, iii., 

 p. 57. — The following resembles Cooke's illustrations of R. 

 cyanoxantha, Schaeff., but cystidia have not been found. For 

 the present at least we refer it to R. azurea, which resembles 

 R. cyanoxantha, and has no cystidia: — Pileus 1 inch across, 

 convex and dimpled atop, finally 3 inches across and depressed, 

 definitely sticky when moist, not striate, when small the colour 

 usually blotchy purplish with stone tints between, sometimes 

 with distinct greenish tinges; tending to crack into small 



