Melton, Sprotborough, and Warrnsworth. 



339 



Chlorospora Eyrei was discovered some years ago in Hamp- 

 shire by the Rev. W. L. W. Eyre, after whom it was named. 

 It is a Lepiota looking- fungus, having a whitish pilous about i inch 

 across, and bluish-green gills, calling to mind the colour of the 

 pileus of Stropharia ceruginosa. The green colour of the spores, 

 when collected on white paper, is quite as decided as that of the 

 gills. 



The discovery of a green-spored group of Agarics is of 

 exceptional interest, as illustrating the extension of a biological 

 feature in the evolution of the Agaricineae, respecting the signifi- 

 cance of which nothing is at present known. 



As is well known, the large assemblage of Agarics is divided 

 into five primary groups, depending on the colour of the spores, 

 i.e., black, purple, brown, pink or salmon-colour, and white. 

 In each of these colour-groups of Agarics there is an exact 

 repetition of the same sequence of morphological details ; thus, 

 in each group we find species furnished with a volva at the base 

 of the stem, whereas others in each group are destitute of this 

 structure. Some representatives of each group have the gills 

 quite free from the stem, whereas in others the gills are grown 

 to the stem, etc., etc. Consequently, but for the difference in 

 the colour of the spores, and judged from a morphological 

 standpoint only, representatives from the five colour-groups 

 would be placed in one and the same genus, as was indeed 

 done by Fries in his earlier works. 



This point of interest, illustrated by the Chlorosporas, is the 

 fact that we find some genera included in the old colour-groups, 

 showing a tendency to follow in the same line of becoming 

 differentiated into colour-groups. 



In the genus Lepiota, a member of the white-spored group, ' 

 the structural features are free gills, and presence of a general 

 and a secondary veil, forming, when fully expanded, a volva at 

 the base of the stem, and a ring or annulus also on the stem. 

 In the genus Schulzeria, a split-off from Lepiota, the ring is 

 absent from the stem. 



Now the two genera constituting the Chlorosporae — Chloro- 

 spora and Chlorophyllum -agree morphologically with Lepiota 

 and Schulzeria , differing only in the green gills and spores. 

 Other members included in the old genus Lepiota have decidedly 

 ochraceous spores. Other genera included in the old colour- 

 groups, as Pleurotus, Triehototna , etc., also show a decided 

 tendency to vary the colour of their spores, w hile retaining their 

 morphological features. 



igoi November t. 



