ArRiL 1, 1864.] THE TECHNOLOGIST. 



THE SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE. 389 



On Fagus obliqua in Chili, spring and summer. 



Paler than C. Danvinii, from one inch and a half to three inches in 

 diameter, not regularly globose, but lengthened at the base. Cups large, 

 three-tenths of an inch, or more, broad ; aperture more or less decidedly 

 pentagonal, bordered by the revolute margin, which is split into portions 

 corresponding with the sides of the aperture. Asci more slender, and 

 longer than in C. Darwinii, sporidia elliptic, smaller, separated by a 

 granular mass. The flesh in the full grown plant, which alone I have 

 seen, is mottled, consisting of branched flexuous filaments. There are a 

 few black granules about the base. (Bei-k. in ' Linn. Trans'). 



The species above described was first noticed by Bertero, and after- 

 wards found by Mr. Charles Darwin. Like its congeners, it appears to 

 be eaten by the inhabitants of the locality in which it is found, 

 Bertero's account is brief, and to the following effect : " In the spring 

 is found, on the branches of the roble, a great number of whitish 

 tubercles, the parenchyma of which is spongy, though sufficiently con- 

 sistent. At first I thought it a gall, or excrescence, produced by the wounds 

 of some insect, as is seen in some other trees in Europ3, and I gave the 

 matter but little attention; but two days afterwards they became 

 unglued from the branch, and I observed, with surprise, that the skin 

 was broken, and the whole surface covered with pentagonal tubes pre- 

 cisely similar to the alveoli of a honeycomb, at first full of a gelatinous 

 substance of the colour of milk, which disappeared with the maturation, 

 afterwards throwing out from these cavities with some force an impal- 

 pable powder, when it was touched, exactly as is observed in Peziza 

 vesiculosa. At the end of two days these bodies softened, lost their 

 expulsive property and rotted. Its vulgar name is digmnes. Some 

 persons eat them, but their insipid and styptic taste is disagreeable." 



Mr. Darwin's account is equally brief ; he writes, under date, Sep- 

 tember, 1834 : " On the hills near Nancagua and San Fernando, there 

 are large woods of roble, or the Chilian oak. I found on them a yellow 

 fungus, very closely resembling the edible ones found on the beech of 

 Terra del Fuego. Speaking from memory, the difference consists in 

 these being paler coloured, but the inside of the cups of a darker orange. 

 The greatest difference is, however, in the more irregular shape, in 

 place of being spherical ; they are also much larger. Many are three 

 times as large as the largest of my Fuegian specimens. The footstalk 

 appears longer ; this is necessary from the roughness of the bark of the 

 tree on which they grow. In the young state there is an internal cavity. 

 They are occasionally eaten by the poor people." 



Tasmania^ Beech Morel (Cyttaria Gunnii, Berk.) — Common re- 

 ceptacle, pear-shaped ; at length hollow ; base attenuated ; neither 

 distinctly stalked nor scabrous. Cups small. Found on living branches 

 of Fagus Cunninghamii in Tasmania,during the summer until the month 

 of October. 



It grows in tufts or clusters, on swellings of the branches ; at first 



