322 
Massee and Salmon —Researches on 
Distribution. 
Coprophilous Fungi are somewhat numerous ; Saccardo (34) 
enumerates 757 species included in 187 genera. Of these, 
many, so far as is known, occur only on dung ; others again, 
especially those belonging to the Hyphomycetes , are not so 
strictly confined to dung but may also occur on decaying 
vegetable matter. Too little is known as yet of the dung- 
flora of many countries to admit of any comparison being 
made as to relative numbers in different regions or as to 
the range of individual species, nevertheless records from 
such localities as Algeria, S. & E. Africa, Martinique, Ceylon, 
Borneo, Australia, Tasmania, Tonkin, Malacca, Spitzbergen, 
United States, Canada, Cuba, Cayenne, Argentina, and 
Patagonia, show that coprophilous Fungi are widely dis- 
tributed. Rostrup (33) records no less than seven species 
of Sporormia , besides species of Saccobolus , Ascophanus , and 
Raparobius from Greenland. As already stated, the great 
majority of coprophilous Fungi occur on the dung of herbi- 
vorous animals, hence their general distribution will be 
influenced by the relative number of such animals in a given 
region. 
In addition to the examination of a large quantity of dung 
of various native and domestic animals from different localities 
in Britain, we have been enabled, through the kindness of 
Mr. C. Bartlett, Superintendent of the Zoological Gardens, 
Regent’s Park, to examine the dung of a number of exotic 
animals, and we find that as a rule the various species of 
Fungi are not confined to one specific habitat, e.g., certain 
species, as Gym 7 ioascus Reessii, Eurotium insigne , E. micro- 
sporum , Sporormia longipes , and others grow indiscriminately 
on the dung of any herbivorous animal, and often appear 
as a successive wave on isolated portions of different kinds 
of dung. Many different Fungi not unfrequently flourish 
on the same substratum ; seventy-two species have been 
recorded as growing on rabbit-dung. 
When quite fresh dung is placed under a bell-jar the 
