TYPE SPECIMENS IN THE ROYAL HERBARIUM, KEW. 83 
that should have been done before. In Berkeley’s Herbarium I 
found a fungus belonging to the Helicosporse, marked “ Hobsonia , 
n.g.,” but which had not been described. Finding that this fungus 
did not agree generically with anything known to me, it was de- 
scribed as Hobsonia, Berk., in Ann. Bot., Vol. v., p. 509; the 
species as H. gigaspova, Berk., l.c., fig. 1. Professor Farlow has 
since kindly pointed out that the above is identical with a species 
described by Peck as Helicomyces mirabilis , and a specimen com- 
municated by Professor Farlow proves this statement to be correct. 
The species is involved in mucilage when moist, hard and horny 
when dry, hence cannot be a species of Helicomyces, according to 
Saccardo’s arrangement, and the genus Hobsonia can stand. Berke- 
ley’s specimen was from Venezuela, and I have since received the 
same species from St. Vincent, and Dominica, W. Indies. (G. M.) 
The California Vine Disease. — The U.S. Deparment of Agricul- 
ture has issued a bulky preliminary report on this subject, pre- 
pared by Newton B. Pierce. The report deals with the subject 
from both historical and practical points of view, the outcome of 
numerous investigations in various parts of the United States and 
in Europe, and is illustrated by many plates and maps. 
Description of a New Phalloid. A. P. Morgan (Cincinnati Soc. 
Nat. Hist., Oct., 1892). — The very remarkable fungus described, 
although undoubtedly belonging to the Phalloideze, differs in many 
important points from the structure typical of that group, more 
especially in the absence of a differentiated volva, and in the 
absence of a gelatinous stratum between the two layers of the peri- 
dium, and, as the author observes, forms a closer connection 
between the Phalloidese and the Lycoperacea3 than has hitherto 
been known. The following is the generic diagnosis : — 
Phallogaster, Morgan. Mycelium fibrous, much branched. 
Peridium obovoid, consisting of two concrete layers, an inner 
and an outer one, rupturing irregularly. Gleba composed of 
numerous roundish irregular masses, or lobes of a green colour, 
attached to the inner surface of the upper part of the peridium ; 
spores oblong, minute, hyaline. 
The species, P. saccatus , has a peridium 1-2 in. high by |-1 in. 
wide, often in small clusters, and with the habit of Lycoperdon 
pyriforme , springing from white, stringy mycelium. The peculiar 
phalloid smell is present, but not so powerful as in some other 
members of the family. 
A Probable New Category of Carnivorous Plants. Conway 
MacMillan (Bot. Gaz., Vol. xvii., p. 380). — The author points 
out “ the fact that members of the genus Polyporus are in the 
habit of catching and digesting small insects is not generally 
known.” “ In Polyporus applanatus the method of catching and 
devouring the insects has been studied by me.” The studies have 
shown that numerous flies, both small and large, walk about and 
