THE MIDLAND NATURALIST. 
“ Come forth into the light of things, 
Let Nature be your teacher.” 
Wordmoorth. 
ON UNDERGROUND FUNGI (FUNGI HYPOGH^]!.)* 
BY THE KEV. M. J. BERKELEY, M.A., F.R.S. 
The most interesting objects in Natural History are often found 
amongst the mo^ anomalous forms. This is peculiarly the case with 
the particular group of Fungi which I have chosen for the subject of 
the present paper, in which I do not profess to make any new observa¬ 
tions, but I shall be quite content, should it prove to your members at 
once interesting and instructive. I should be more able to make it so if I 
could address you viva voce, with power of continual illustration by 
means of figures drawn at once in your presence, but at my advanced 
age, now verging on eighty, it would be impossible for me, and I must 
not attempt that in which I might possibly break dowii; and I now 
comply with the request which has been made to me, as far as my 
powers allow. 
The Fungi in question are those which are, as a rule, produced 
beneath the surface of the earth, or which after a time become 
Referencks to Plates I., II., and III. 
Fig. 1. Tuber cestivum, Vittadiui, ascus with sporidia and single spondiuni. 
'2. Titber JSorcTiti, Vittadini, single sporidimn. 
Tuber nitidum, Vittadini, single sporidimn. 
4. Tuber rufum, Pico, single sporidimn. 
o. Balsamia vulgaris, Vittadini, ascus with contained sporidia. 
6. Genea verrucosa, yittduAini, section of plant slightly enlarged, and section 
highly magnified, showing the linear ascus with its contained sporidia. 
7. Genea Klotschii, Corda, section of plant natural size, and single sporidimn. 
8. Elaphomyces Leveillei, Tulasne, ascus with the contained sporidia and 
single sporidimn. 
y. Melanogaster ambiguus, Tulasne, sporophore with spores. 
10. Hysterangiuni nep)liriticum, section showing sporophores and spores. 
11. lihizopogon rubesceiis, Tulasne, section magnified. 
12. Hynienogaster citrinus, Vittadini, sporophores with spores. 
13. Do. do. surrounded by cyst. 
14. Hynienogaster Thivaitesii, Berk, and Broome, spores with cyst. 
15. Endogone pisiformis, Lk., section of plant slightly magnified. 
16. Do. do. Threads with cysts. 
All the figures are copied either from Corda or Tulasne, but the coirectness 
of all has been verified. They are all more or less highly magnified, except 
where it is otherwise stated. 
* Read before the Birmingham Natural History and Microscopical Society, 
October 4th, 1881. 
