[ 129 ] VIII. On some new Fungi. By the Rev. M. J. Berkeley, 31. A., F.L.S. Read May 5th, 1857. A VERY valuable collection of Fungi has been lately made by Fendler in Venezuela, which are now in the hands of the Eev. M. A. Curtis of South Carolina, and will shortly be offered for sale. The collection abounds in new species, of which I have selected three as peculiarly interesting, with the intention of bringing one or two more under the notice of the Society at some future meeting. To these I have added a description of a new species of Mitremyces from South Carolina, and of a very curious genus of Hypogseous Fungi lately received from Tasmania, with many other good things, through the kindness of Mr. Archer. The Tasmanian collection \vill shortly be described m Dr. Hooker's Tas-manian Flora, but this genus is so curious that it deserves previously a more especial notice. 1. Hydnum brunneoleucum. Berk. & Curt. Pileo flabeUiformi arcuato tenui luteo-brunneo glabro ; hymenio paUido setulis vahdis consperso. On dead wood. Venezuela {Fendler). PUeus thin, flabelliform, vaulted, 1^ inch long, nearly as much broad, yeUowish-brown, smooth, slightly streaked behind. Hymenium whitish, sprinkled with many scattered strong bristles. This species is closely allied to Sydnum flavum, Berk. {Feziza flava, Swartz), a figure of which was published in the Annals of Nat. Hist. vol. x., from an original specimen in the British Museum. It occurs in Venezuela as well as Jamaica, and is no. 129 of Fendler's collection. It differs from the present species not only in colour, but in the bristles being divided above. Both belong to Fries' genus Kneiffia, but its characters scarcely separate it with sufficient precision from Hydnum. S. brimneoleucwm is exactly a Kneiffia, but then Hydmim luteum, which is clearly congeneric, approaches so closely to Hydnum, that I know not how to separate it. The two species have a peculiar, Peziza-like habit which at once distinsruishes them from aU others. -'a^ 2. Craterellus paptracetjs. Berk. & Curt. Pileo centraU tennissimo umbilicato cocci-neo glabro ; stipite gracUi subaequali fusco ; hymenio la3vi ochraceo. Venezuela {Fendler). PUeus 3^ inches across, extremely thin, umbUicate or very broadly infundibulifonn, smooth, slightly fissured at the margin which is arched, bright scarlet, with a few vein-like pencUings in the umbUicus ; stem 4 inches high, not a line thick, smooth, reddish-browTi, equal except at the very base, where it is slightly dilated as it springs from the matted mycelium. Hymenium quite smooth, ochraccous. VOL. XXII. s
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