334 INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY OF FUNGI 



The home of the Tuberaceae is in the south of Europe, and 

 of the 145 species 138 are European. The Phycomycetes, 

 which include the Mucors ; the aquatic moulds (the Sapro- 

 legniaceae) ; the Peronosporeae, which are plant parasites ; the 

 EntomopMhoreae, insect parasites ; and a few small groups, are 

 chiefly European or North American. 



Of imperfect Fungi, the Sphaeropsideae almost follow the 

 distribution of the Sphaeriaceae ; and the moulds, or Hypho- 

 mycetes, prefer a warm damp atmosphere in the warm temper- 

 ate zone to a hotter region. The Dematiaei reach farther 

 towards the equator than the Mucedines. About 30 species 

 are recorded for Cuba and 50 for Ceylon, and of these the 

 Mucedines are of a low type ; hence the 4800 species recorded 

 must be sought in temperate regions. 



The yeast Fungi and Microbes, or Saccharomycetes and 

 Schizomycetes, depend so much upon their surroundings that no 

 scheme of geographical distribution can be propounded. The 

 Myxomycetes are much the strongest in Europe and America, 

 and with a few exceptions are almost entirely confined to 

 those regions. A few of the widely diffused species, such as 

 Stemonitis fusca, Physarum cinereum, and Spumaria alba, 

 sometimes appear at remote places, but they seem to be more 

 scarce than would be anticipated in subtropical localities. 

 Although Thwaites found some 50 species in Ceylon, and 30 

 species were collected in Cuba, they are rarely to be met with 

 in tropical collections. Out of a total of 450 described species, 

 we can only find 67 that are not represented in Europe or 

 North America. 



This appears to be the most complete general survey which 

 we can arrive at with our present knowledge of the Fungi of 

 tropical and subtropical regions, in which the information is 

 most fragmentary. In many cases our knowledge of the Fungi 

 of any given country depends on the work of a single col- 

 lector, and in no single instance has a tropical country been 

 thoroughly investigated. For the larger, woody, or otherwise 

 persistent species there is no difficulty, as they are conspicuous 

 objects, readily seen, easily collected, and can be conveyed with- 

 out much difficulty ; but the fleshy species, which soon decay 

 or deliquesce, and the minute species, only to be seen with a 



