THE INTELLECTUAL OBSERVER. 



FEBRUARY, 1864. 



A NEW BRITISH FUNGUS. 



. BY THE REV. M. J. BERKELEY, M.A., P.L.S. 

 {With a Coloured Plate.) 



Though so much has been done since the conclusion of the 

 Cryptogamic part of the English Flora in 1837 towards 

 forming a perfect list of British Fungi, the experience of the 

 present abnormal season shows that there still remains much to 

 reward diligent research. Not only has Mr. Broome, amongst 

 other novelties, added to our list almost all the curious and 

 beautiful species of Ascobolus described by the Messrs. Orouan, 

 of Brest — a dung -borne genus distinguished by the curious pro- 

 perty of partially ejecting the little sausage-like sacs, or asci, 

 which contain the sporidia — while Wales and Scotland have 

 made some welcome additions to our list ; but the Rev. G. H. 

 Sawyer has shown that many of the nobler forms which adorn 

 the pine forests of the Continent may still be expected to occur 

 in the more southern districts. In company with Hydnum 

 imbricatum, one of the most striking of British fungi, though a 

 rare inhabitant of our fir woods, he finds an equally large species, 

 Hydnum Icevigatum, together with the beautifully tinted 

 Hydnum tomentosum, and H. zonatum, of which the two 

 former are new to this country ; and, in addition to these, 

 Rhizina undulata, equally novel and remarkable for its 

 fine fruit, of which, together with the plant itself, we 

 give a sketch. But, besides these objects of interest, and 

 others which we refrain from enumerating, he has contributed 

 to our Fungology the genus Sparassis, a genus so striking that 

 Fries declares that Sparassis crispa, the species which has 

 occurred near Maidenhead, is the most beautiful of all the 

 fungi he has ever seen. Without pledging our taste quite so 

 far, we consider the object so beautiful, in addition to its 

 vol. v. — no. I. B 



