NOTES ON AUSTRALIAN FUNGI. 201 



for the lobed volva. Of Mutinus papuasius he states that 

 the plant is only known from Kalchbrenner's figure (re- 

 produced), which was made from specimens sent him by 

 Mueller. He adds that it is not really known whether the 

 plant is a Mutinus or a Phallus, and that if it is a Mutinus 

 it is the most slender species known. 



Although these two figures appear at first sight to repre- 

 sent quite different plants, we have collected on two 

 occasions a Mutinus which, in certain stages of its develop- 

 ment, could be represented by either figure (with certain 

 reservations), whilst the mature fungus might figure as a 

 third species. From the comparisons of our specimens with 

 the figures we have little doubt that one species is alone in- 

 volved which approaches Mutinus bambusinus in general 

 appearance, but is best called, at present at any rate, M. 

 curtus. The explanation of the figures seems to be as follows: 

 At an early stage within the volva, the receptacle is drum- 

 stick shaped, consisting of a delicate white stem capped 

 by a relatively large dull sage-green knob; which elongates 

 later. The apex of the knob is white, the gleba being here 

 deficient, and has a well-marked ostiolum. Both these 

 features are clearly shown in the figure of M. curtus, as 

 is also the elongated gleba-bearing knob. The stem is also 

 attenuated downwards but is thicker than in our specimens. 

 The figure is so evidently diagrammatic, however, that this 

 may be overlooked, whilst the five 'lobes' of the volva sug- 

 gest either the artificial cutting of the closed volva to 

 expose the contents or the delineator's idea of what it 

 would have been had it ruptured in the course of growth. 

 The figure of M. papuasius (reproduced in Cooke's Hand- 

 book of Australian Fungi, fig. 99) very closely resembles 

 our plants, especially if the stem were considerably short- 

 ened. As the figure was drawn from specimens sent to 

 Kalchbrenner which, if our contention is right, had not yet 



