OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA. 
2 :! 
FUNGI AND BUSH FIRES. 
Certain species of our fungi are only found fruiting after the country has 
been burnt by bush-tires. This statement is probably not strictly correct. One 
should perhaps say that as yet they have only been found on recently-burnt 
country. It is probable that the fruiting bodies do occasionally develop with- 
out the aid given by a previous fire. 
In sandy soil, often in niallee country, with the first rains after a fire, we 
may find tin' stone-building fungus, Polpporus baailnpiloitles, called Laeeo- 
crphatum ba&Uapiloidrs by its original describers, the late .T. Ci. (). Tepper, of 
Adelaide, and the late D. Mi-Alpine, tin* veteran mycologist, of Melbourne. This 
has a large yellowish-brown firm cap, with raised lines, whitish pores, and a long 
stem passing below in the soil to a core of mycelium and sand, which, if traced 
down for several inches, will be found to arise from a firmer compact mass of 
mycelium, a sclerotium. 
Another polvpore, Polyporus tumvliosus, also appears, with the first autumnal 
rains, in recently burnt sandy stringy-bark country, such as at Mount Lofty and 
nearKuitpo. This has a yellowish-brown smooth cap, with a very short stem above 
ground, so that the fruit-body is only slightly raised above the soil, and is often 
sand-besprinkled. On tracing the stem downwards, a larger portion is found to 
be buried, and this passes soon into a thick cord of compacted mycelium and 
sand, finally ending in a large ball of similar structure encased in a thin, 
brittle, darker layer. So far, this species has only been found after recent 
fii'cs; it occurs in this State, in Xew South Wales, and in Tasmania. 
In similar burnt sandy country, as near Kuitpo, scratcbings made by rabbits 
and marsupials may be seen, and near these empty sand -impregnated husks 
the size of walnut shells. If we dig up the soil round the scratching with a 
trench-tool or trowel, we may find some unopened examples of the fungus from 
which these came. They are only a few inches under the soil, are rounded, the 
size of a marble to a walnut, rough and covered with sand grains. When cut 
in two, they are found to have an outer husk, separated front a firm compact 
pale central core the size of a pea, bv a mass of greyish powdery spores, a few 
firm strands passing between the husk and the core. This fungus is an under- 
ground puff-ball, a species of Mesophdlia, M. pachythrix. When fresh, it 1ms 
a very strong characteristic pungent-aromatic smell, and it is presumably this 
that has attracted animals to it. Apparently the core is eaten and the husk 
discarded, the spores being freely liberated in the process, and some doubtless 
swallowed, and perhaps still further distributed in the dung. The fungi do 
not naturally ever reach the surface, and it is probable that any increase in 
their distribution is dependent on their being grubbed up by animals. Once a 
spore lias established itself and grown, the mycelium spreads in the soil and 
finally produces fruit-bodies at various points, and may do so over many years. 
Wallabies, bandicoots, and apparently rabbits all scratch for these fungi. It 
would be interesting to try the pig, so well known in Europe as a hunter for 
truffles, which are also underground fungi though not related to these Australian 
plants. Our native animals and rabbits do not seem particularly successful in 
their searching, as often though some have been eaten others are found intact 
in the soil quite close to the scratching. In Tasmania, with Mr. L. Bodwav, 
we dug ii]} numbers of Mesophcllia arenaria and of the allied Castoreuru 
> adiealum and C. lasmanicum, near bandicoot scratcbings in burnt soil, and we 
found that quite often the animals had actually scratched up the puff-ball and 
yet had not noticed it, or at least had left it intact. The fleshy-firm central 
core I found rather tough and possessed of the strong pungent-aromatic taste. 
Near the Mesophcllia at Kuitpo, we have found Castor eum cretaceum. 
< asloreum resembles Mesophcllia but has no central core. This peculiar species, 
as it matures, reaches the surface when the outer yellowish-brown covering 
splits to form a deep saucer-shaped receptacle, toothed along the rim, in which 
lies the mass of spores encased in a thin covering. The opened fungus looks 
like a little Geaster or earth-star. 
