18 Fungi of the Plains of India. 



FUNGI OF THE PLAINS OF INDIA. 



BY THE EEV. M. J. BERKELEY, M.A., E.L.S. 



It is curious that so little comparatively has been done re- 

 specting the fungi of India. A large collection, indeed, was 

 made in Sikkim and the neighbouring countries by Dr. Hooker, 

 but with this exception, and a few from the Neilgherries, Paras 

 Nath, the Northern Himalayas, and other scattered points, 

 scarcely any have been recorded, and indeed, the mycology of 

 few countries had been so little explored. It is, however, 

 quite certain from what I have seen of collections made in 

 Bombay by Dr. H. J. Carter and Capt. J. 0. Hobson, and 

 what I have received from my son, Capt. E. S. Berkeley, from 

 the Madras Presidency, that there is a very rich harvest in 

 store. 



This of course applies chiefly to mountainous districts. It 

 is not to be expected that the plains of India should be equally 

 prolific, but there are some fine undescribed species to be met 

 with occasionally * and I have already published in the Intro- 

 duction to Gryptogamic Botany, some curious forms from the 

 Deccan. It is, moreover, pretty certain that one or two of our 

 hothouse fungi, as Agaricus volvaceus and Agaricus Cepaistipes, 

 were originally imported from thence or some neighbouring 

 country. 



Many years ago, General Hardwicke had a number of draw- 

 ings of fungi prepared for him at Dum-dum. Etchings of several 

 of these were made on their transmission to Dr. J. E. Gray, 

 but in the midst of numerous zoological engagements, the 

 intention of publishing them was never carried out. They of 

 course comprise a few cosmopolites, as Polyporus lucidus and 

 Schizophyllum commune, and some widely distributed exotics, 

 as Irpexflavus and Dcedalea sanguinea ; but they are especially 

 interesting, as (together with two of the finest species of the 

 Volvaria sub-genus of Agaricus, known in Europe, as Agaricus 

 volvaceus and A. bombycinus) there are at least two new species 

 of the same division, while amongst European forms such as 

 Agaricus campanulatus and A. papilionaceus, we have others 

 decidedly tropical or sub-tropical, to one or two of which I 

 shall presently draw attention. 



I have, however, been induced to look more especially to 

 these fungi of the plains of India, in consequence of receiving 

 some drawings of a few fine species from my son, who is now 

 quartered at Masulipatam, most of which are undescribed, and 

 of the one which has been noticed in several quarters from its 

 singular habitat on the nests of white ants, and its peculiar 



