Xll 
INTRODUCTION. 
ditions which conduce to the appearance of the above species of 
Lepiota, indigenous to Ceylon, in Australia ? 
Undoubtedly the climate of Australia is favourable to the 
growth of Boletus and Strobilom.yces, but, up to the present, the 
only Ceylon species found in Australia is the gigantic Boletus 
portentosus , B. & Br. But Ceylon is not productive for Bole.ti, 
and, as far as we remember, this is the only indigenous species, 
and that solitary one has appeared in Queensland, quite fourteen 1 
inches in diameter of the pileus. 
Amongst the Polyporei there is no more marked instance 
than the occurrence of Polystictms Peradenice, B. & Br., which, 
as its name indicates, was first found in Ceylon, but has since 
been collected in most of the Australian colonies. Whatever 
errors of determination there might bo with fleshy putrescent 
fungi, there is no room for doubt in this species, which is 
remarkable for its distinctive chai’acter. 
lrpex jlavus, Kl., and Irpex zonatus, B., are not original ] 
Cinghalese species, but they are also Australasian, as well as * 
somewhat common in Ceylon. Kneifiia Muelleri, B., first found > 
in Australia, was afterwards detected in Ceylon, and we have ■, 
no recoi-d of it elsewhere. Hymenochvte strigosa , B. & Br., was 
first described from Ceylon, and afterwards recognized in Aus- f 
tralia. Hymenochade rhabarbarina, B. & Br., also a Ceylon « 
species, has been found in New Zealand. Corticium simulans , 
B. & Br., in addition to Ceylon and the United States, has been 
collected in Australia. Stereum pusillum, B., has only been 
recorded from Ceylon and Tasmania. Also Stereum sparsum, 
B., only for Ceylon and Australia. Coniophora murina, Mass., ; I 
was described from Ceylon, but has since been detected in 
Australia. Aserde Zeylanica, Berk., is recorded for Ceylon and 
New Zealand. Lycoperdon lilacinum, M. & B., although found 
in other localities, including South Africa and South America, 
is common also to Ceylon and Australia. Epichloe cinerea, 
Berk., first received from Ceylon, has recently been collected in 
Australia. Xylaria Schweinitzii , B. & C., was first discovered 
in Surinam, it was found afterwards in Ceylon, and more 
recently in two or three localities in Australia. This is not by 
any means an exhaustive list, but suggestive of the relation- 
ship between some of the larger fungi in two remote countries. 
Comparing the Australian Fungi with those of Europe, we ' 
find that 271 species of Agaricini, or altogether 472 species of 
Hymenomycetes which are found in Europe extend to Australia, 
which would seem to indicate that two-fifths of Australian 
Hymenomycetes are European, but, probably, further investiga- 
tion will prove this to be too large a proportion, since examina- 
tion on the spot, and in a fresh condition, may determine some 
of the species now referred to European types to be distinct, 
since it is always difficult to be quite certain with only a dried 
specimen or two of an Agaric, without any figure or details. 
With the Gasteromycetes it is different, for, of the total of 173 
