New species of edible mushroom from India

Notes and Brief Articles 415 discharging its spores into the air . If the rabbit faeces had been collected from the field Kernia in the soil could grow into the faeces, or some arthropod vector could be responsible for its dispersal, but with our samples the possibility of animal transport of spore inoculum is ruled out. There was no evidence of any microfauna colonizing our cultures. The authors thank Mr Erwin Kirchhoff of Genoa City, Wisconsin, for providing the alfalfa used in these experiments. REFERENCES ANGEL, K. & WICKLOW, D. T . (1974). Decomposition of rabbit faeces : an indication of the significance of the coprophilous rnicroflora. Journal ofEcology 62 (2). In press. HARPER, ] . E. & WEBSTER,]. (1964). An experimental analysis of the coprophilous fungus succession. Transactions ofthe British Mycological Society47,511-530. H UDSON, H.]. (1968). The ecology of fungi on plant remains above the soil. New Phytologist 67, 837-874- LARSEN, K. (1971). Danish endocoprophilous fungi and their sequence of occurrence. Botanisk Tidsskrift 66, 1-32. LUNDQ.VIST, N. (1972). Nordic Sordariaceae S. Lat. Symbolae Botanicae Upsalienses 20, 1-374· MITCHELL, D. T. (1970). Fungus succession on dung of South African Ostrich and Angora goat. Journal ofSouth African Botany 36, 191-198. RICHARDSON, M.J. (1972). Coprophilous ascomycetes on different dung types. Transac- tions ofthe British Mycological Society 58, 37-48. WEBSTER, J. (1970). Coprophilous fungi . Transactions of the British MycologicalSociety 54, 161-180. WICKLOW, D. T. & MALLOCH, D. (1971). Studies in the genus Thelebolus. Temperature optima for growth and ascocarp development. Mycologia 63, 118-131. NEW SPECIES OF EDIBLE MUSHROOM FROM INDIA R. P. PURKAYASTHA AND AINDRILA CHANDRA Department oj Botany, University of Calcutta, India During the month of July 1972, a few species of edible mushrooms were collected from different parts of West Bengal, India. Calocybe indica sp.nov. was one of the fungi first collected from a market in Calcutta. Spore prints were taken from the freshly collected fruit-bodies and subsequently cultures were prepared from both the tissues and the spores. The cultures were compared and the identity of the fungus was confirmed. Calocybe indica sp.nov. (Fig. I) Sporophora robusta, interdum parva, plerumque centraliter stipitata, alba. Pileus 10'0-14'0 em diam, firmus, nonhygrophanus, primum convexus, dernum applanatus; fructificationes juvenes albae vel albescentes, vetustae sord ide albae, fructificationes humidae plerumque albae sed bubalinae in sicco ; cuticula nova humida, teges laeves, interdum cum squamis ad vel circum centrum pilei maturi; margo regularis, incurvatus, lacvis, non-striatus. Lamellae emarginatae, confertae, distinctae, separabiles, inequales, ftexibiles, haud tenues, 0·6 cm vel crassiores, attenuatae versus marginem pilei, laeves, integrae, penitus albae, 4.6 ern vel longiores. Stipes centralis, interdum excentricus, cylindricus cum basim subbulbosam, 10'0 ern longus, 1·8 em crassus (apice), 3'5 em Trans. Br. mycol. Soc. 62 (2), (1974) . Printed in Great Britain Transactions British Mycological Society Fig. I. Calocybe indica sp.nov. (A) Habit sketch of mature fruit body; (B) longitudinal section of the fruit-body; (0) basidia; (D) basidiospores; (E) hyphae from pileus tissue. Trans. Br. "",col. Soc. &I (2), (1974). Printed in Great Britain Notes and Brief Articles (in medio) et 2'4 ern (basi); albus, cartilagineus, superficie sicca, fibrillosus, basi haud cavus, sine volva et annulo; caro alba in sicca et humida ubi sectus color non mutatus ; flavido-fuscus (Melzer solutio), cuticula pilei color non mutatus (Ferrus sal). Sapor mitis (aliquan tum oleosus), odor nondistinguens, interdum parvum raphani, Trama hymeno- phora regularis praeter exiguum divergentem subter subhymenio. Hyphae lamellarum dense compactae et parallelae usque ad 8'5 pm latae; hyphae contextae latitudinis dissimilis (3'4-5'1 pm et 6'8-g3 pm), filamentosae pileopelles. Cystidia maxime distincta nulla sed monades plures elongatae cylindricae (3'4-5'1 x 22'1-25'5 pm) cum contento granuloso praesentae. Basidia cIavata, 25'5-3°.6 x 6'8--8'5 pm, tetraspora sterigmata 1'3-1 '7 x 1'7- 2' 1 pm. Basidiosporae late ellipsoideae, hyalinae, non-ornatae, 5'9-"6·8 x 4'2- 5'1 pm cum apiculis conspicuis, non arnyloideae. In solo, Calcutta, 20 July 1972, holotypus in Plant Path. Lab., Department Botany, Universitas Calcuttensis. Sporophores robust, sometimes smaller, usually centrally stipitate, white, Pileus 10'0-14'0 em wide, consistency firm, non-hygrophanous, at first convex, later expanded and flat; young fruit-bodies are white or whitish but dirty white with age, wet fruit-bodies are normally white but buff when dry; cuticle easily peeled, moist when fresh; mat polished, sometimes appressed scales are present at or around the centre of the mature pileus; margin regular, incurved, smooth, non-striate. Gills emarginate, crowded, distinctly formed, separable, non-interveined, unequal, pliable, not thin, 0,6 em or more broad, attenuated towards the margin of the pileus, smooth, entire, white throughout, 4'6 em or more long, Stipe central, sometimes eccentric, cylindrical with subbulbous base, 10'0 em long, 1,8 em thick (top), 3'5 em (middle) and 2'4 em (base); white, cartilaginous, surface dry, fibrillose, base not hollow, without volva and annulus ; flesh white when dry and remains so in wet condition, no significant change in colour on cutting; chemical reaction: (Melzer's reagent) yellow brown (ferrous sulphate) no significant colour change with cuticle of the pileus. Taste mild (somewhat oily), odour not distinctive, sometimes slightly of radish, Structure: hymenophoral trama regular but for a slight divergency below the subhymenium, gill trama consisting of densely compacted hyphae with parallel orientation up to 8'5 pm wide with clamp connexions at the septa; pileus trama consisting of hyphae of different widths (3'4-5' I and 6,8- 9'3 pm) with clamp conncxions; filamentous pileopellis. Highly dif- ferentiated cystidia are lacking, although several elongated cylindrical units (3'4-5'1 x 22'1-25'5 pm) with granular contents are present, Basidia clavate with carminophilous granulation, 25'5-30.6 x 6,8-8'5 pm, tetra- sterigmatic, sterigmata 1'3-1'7 x 1'7-2'1 pm. Basidiospores broadly ellip- soid, thin-walled, hyaline without ornamentation, 5'9-6,8 x 4'2-5'1 pm with prominent apiculus, non-amyloid, spore print white . This fungus has been placed in Calocybe Sect. I. Calocybe (Guttatae (Fr .) Sing.) on the following basis. The hymenophoral trama is regular but for a slight divergency below the subhymenium; the filamentous pileopellis; carminophilic basidia; thin-walled hyaline spores; lack of highly differentiated cystidia although several cylindric units with granular contents are present; clamp connexions are present, This new species is very close to Calocybe gambosa (Fr.) Sing., differing in the slightly larger, broadly ellipsoid basidiospores, more robust nature and solitary Trans. Br. mycol. Soc. 62 (2), (1974). Printed in Great Britain 27 MYC 62 418 Transactions British Mycological Society appearance. C. indica belongs to the Tribus Lyophylleae, family Tricholo- mataceae of the order Agaricales (Singer, 1962). The authors are grateful to Dr Roy Watling, Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh, for kindly identifying the fungus and to ProfessorA. K. Sharma, Department of Botany, Calcutta University, for providing facilities for this work. REFERENCE SINGER, R. (1962). The agaricales in modern taxonomy, znd ed. Weinheim: J. Cramer. HYPHODISCOSIA GEN.NOV. FROM INDIA B. C. LODHA AND K. R. CHANDRA REDDY Department of Botany, University of Rajasthan, Jaipur, andDepartment of Plant Pathology, Andhra Pradesh Agricultural University, Hyderabad The fungus, which forms the subject of this paper, was found growing on bark of dead wood collected from Siriska, near Jaipur, Rajasthan, India. A description of the fungus is given below. Mycelium is scanty, composed of mostly immersed, sometimes super- ficial, branched, septate, subhyaline to brown hyphae. Conidiophores are crowded, but arise singly from the hyphae, simple, erect, flexuous, septate, smooth, brown and becoming subhyaline to hyaline towards their tips, 60-I25!tm long, 3'5-5'0!tm wide near the base, 3'0-4'5!tm wide in the middle, gradually tapering above to a width of 2'5-3'0 !tm. Each conidiophore terminates in a swollen, hyaline apex which is usually globose, 4-5!tm diam and with 5-7 conidia but sometimes, it may be small without any definite shape and bears only 2-3 conidia. It may proliferate irregularly with age producing more conidia and becoming larger in size, 6-10 x 7- 10 !tm. Conidia are blastic on denticles situated on the swollen apex. Denticles are hyaline, cylindrical, I'0-2'5!tm long, I'5-2'2!tm wide. Conidia are solitary, dry, light pink, subcylindrical, dorsiventral, straight, r-septate in the middle, not constricted at the septum, slightly tapered towards the truncate base, rounded at the apex, vacuolated, thin-walled, smooth, I6·5-22.5!tm long, 3'5-5'0!tm wide, and possessingtwo lateral appendages (setulae). The appendages are long, flexuous, mucoid, hair-like, fragile, straight or slightly curved; each appendage originates obliquely with a characteristic bend from the middle of each cell on the ventral side of the conidium. Conidia are shed leaving the denticles on th e conidiophore after the formation of septa which separate the conidia from the denticles. The conidia of this fungus resemble those ofDiscosia Libert (Subramanian & Reddy, 1973) in general shape and position of the conidial appendages. Discosia, however, differs in producing typically 3- or 4-septate conidia on long conical conidiophorcs inside a dimidiate pycnidium. Typically Trans. Br, mycol. Soc. 62 (2), (1974). Printedin Great Britain