TWO AUSTRALIAN FUNGI. 
83 
covered with a mealy, pulverulent hairy coat, and hence now called 
Lasiosphcpria. The most noteworthy circumstance lies in the 
character of the fructification, which is remarkably fine, consisting 
of long, spindle-shaped sporidia, with from 15 to 19 septa. . At 
first the perithecia are so concealed by the mealy coating that it is 
difficult to determine what sort of a fungus it is, or whether it is a 
fungus at all. It occurred on bark near Macedon, Victoria, and 
was discovered by that energetic lady, to whom we have been 
indebted for many good things, Mrs. W. Martin (nee Flora 
Campbell). 
Iiasiosphaeria larvsespora, Cke. Sf Mass. 
Perithecia superficial, loosely gregarious (J-J m.m. diam.), 
globose, covered with a mealy floccose sulphur-coloured invest- 
ment, with a naked pierced ostiolum. Asci cylindrically clavate, 
octosporous. Sporidia elongated, fusiform, straight or flexuous 
(160 X 10 p), at first nucleate, then multiseptate (15-19) , 
hyaline. 
On bark. Macedon, Victoria. (No. 566.) 
MUSHROOMS AND TOADSTOOLS. 
Having had occasion recently to obtain a census of edible and 
noxious fungi, it may prove acceptable to record some of the 
figures obtained in this investigation. It may be premised that 
Saccardo’s “ Sylloge,” which professes to have brought together 
all the descriptions of species from all parts of the world, enumer- 
ates 4,600 species of Agancini, and this is assumed to be the total 
number of gill-bearing fungi hitherto described. Out of this total 
the “ Reprint of Handbook,” just completed for this group of 
fungi, enumerates 1,400 British species, so that more .than one- 
fourth of the entire total have been found in these islands. It 
was our object to obtain some guide to the proportions of edible 
and noxious fungi in this total, and, as a first step, we discovered 
that 134 may be relied upon as edible, but against these we have 
no positive evidence that more than 30 are poisonous. It is 
necessary to analyze the total 1,400 species a little before we 
draw inferences, and in pursuit of this we discovered that — 
Species too minute to be of any service, as 
esculents ... ... ... ... ... 580 
Species found only once or very rare... ... 130 
Species too coriaceous, as Lenzites ... ... 10 
720 
By this means we discover that slightly over one-half of the 
total number of British species must be left out of account, so 
