33o INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY OF FUNGI 



climates. The Thelephorei have a very wide range, and some 

 species of Stereum are almost cosmopolitan, or are represented 

 by very close allies, whilst Corticium affects generally a more 

 temperate region. Allied genera are distributed in con- 

 formity with their texture. The Clavariei are all more or 

 less fleshy, and have their home in temperate regions, being 

 represented in the tropics by Lachnocladium, which is of a 

 dry and leathery texture. Of the total of 240 species of 

 Clavaria there are 146 indigenous to Europe and the United 

 States, and 20 others to a temperate climate, whilst probably 

 10 of the original number of species belong to Lachnocladium 

 or Calocera, which would account for three-fourths as inhabit- 

 ants of the temperate zone, and only one -fourth to be 

 accounted for in warmer countries. Of the Tremellini only 

 some of the Himeolae belong to a subtropical climate. 



The Gastromycetes, or puff-ball family, is a comparatively 

 small one, with about 720 species, and these are subdivided 

 into four distinct sections. The Fhalloideae are fleshly fetid 

 Fungi, which prefer a warm climate, although a few species 

 reach the south temperate zone. There are only about 93 

 species, of which 5 at least are tropical. The Nidulariaceae 

 are small, tough species, widely distributed, and of the 65 

 species about one-third of them are subtropical. The chief 

 section, the Lycoperdaceae, contains about 480 species, of 

 which rather more than one-third belong to Europe and North 

 America. Australia is the richest country in the world for 

 these Fungi, possessing not less than one-fourth of the total 

 number of described species, whilst Great Britain has only 

 about one-sixth. About one-fourth of the whole are tropical 

 or subtropical. The subterranean family, the Hypogaei, is 

 only a small one, containing about 85 species, but there is 

 hardly a record of a subtropical species, and 68 are recorded 

 for Europe, so that it is almost a European family, for hitherto 

 it is not well represented in the United States. From the 

 above we may conclude, in general terms, that the Phalloidei 

 are . subtropical ; that the Nidulariaceae are generally dis- 

 tributed ; that the Lycoperdaceae prefer a warm temperate 

 climate, especially when dry and sandy; and that the Hypogaei 

 are absolutely of a temperate zone, and chiefly European. 



