XIII, C, 4 
Brown: Fungi Cultivated by Termites 
229 
THE AGARIC 
Petch 14 describes in considerable detail the agaric, Collybia 
albuminosa (Berk.) Petch, which grows from the actual combs 
in the termite nests. He 15 makes the following statements con- 
cerning its habitat: 
The agaric arises from the nest while it is still inhabited by the ter- 
mites. It seldom appears on the actual termite hill, but usually among 
the grass round the base. At Peradeniya it is more frequently found 
growing from subterranean nests which have not yet attained the hill 
stage, and whose presence is indicated by a few small chimneys only. 
Its geographic distribution is summarized by Petch 16 as 
follows : 
The occurrence of agarics in or around termite nests has been recorded 
from Ceylon, India, Singapore, Java, Borneo, and Brazil. The species in 
question is usually regarded as edible, and for that reason it has fre- 
quently been included in collections of tropical agarics; it is, for example, 
due to that fact that we have the records relating to termite nests in 
India. The names under which the agaric has been described differ in dif- 
ferent countries, and even from the same country it has had several names 
bestowed upon it, but from a comparison of the descriptions, and the 
type specimens in some cases, it is quite certain that the species which 
develops from termite nests is the same in all the countries in which it 
has been found up to the present. 
Although this fungus is very common on termite nests, it has 
not been grown from the combs removed from the nests. 
The agaric occurs in two forms, identical so far as pilei are 
concerned, but differing in the character of the stalk. In one 
form the stalk is almost uniform in diameter throughout. In the 
other the lower part of the stalk is about two millimeters in 
diameter, but as it ascends to the soil it expands up to 1-2 centi- 
meters in diameter. 
While in Los Banos, my attention was called by Doctor E. B. 
Copeland to an agaric which appeared to be growing from the 
ground but which he had traced to termite combs in subter- 
ranean nests. This fungus showed two forms which Doctor 
Copeland has identified as the two forms of the agaric described 
by Petch from Ceylon. At Los Banos, as in Ceylon, this fungus 
appears to grow only from termite nests, and to be always 
connected with the combs. 
14 Petch, T., The fungi of certain termite nests, Ann. Bot. Gard. Pera- 
deniya 3 (1906) 185-270, fig. 3 . 
15 Petch, T., Termite fungi: A resume, Ann. Bot. Gard. Peradeniya 5 
(1913) 303-341. 
16 Petch, T., op. cit. 
