The first and most conspicuous of these orders is the Hymenomycetes, the mushroom and toad-stool family, of which the common mushroom may be taken as the type. These are all distinguished by having the spore-bearing cells arranged in a more or less continuous exposed surface, even or variously folded. In the more typical species, this surface assumes the form of the flat laminæ which are termed gills. Of these, Agaricus nitidus has been found at Coleshill Pool; the yellow variety of Ag. cepæstipes at Sutton Coldfield; Ag. polystictus and Ag. pessundatus, near Kenilworth; Ag. stans in Edgbaston Park; Ag. virgatus, both there and at Coleshill Pool; Ag. inornatus at Kenilworth; Ag. tuba, at Middleton; Ag. ditopus, there and in Edgbaston Park; Ag. platyphyllus frequently in and near Sutton Park; Ag. rancidus at Middleton; Ag. pullatus, at Coleshill Pool; Ag. leucogalus, at New Park, Middleton; Ag. electicus, on rush stems in Sutton Park; Ag. subpalmatus, at Kenilworth and near Studley Castle; Ag. petaloides, var. spathulatus, at Oversley; Ag. volvaceus, Ag. speciosus, and Ag. umbrosus, at Kenilworth; Ag. jubatus, near Barnt Green; Ag. heteroclitus, many striking and well developed specimens at Sutton Coldfield; and Ag. lanuginosus, in Oversley Wood. Ag. horizontalis is said by Purton to be “not rare” near Alcester, and he records Ag. erinaceus and Ag. pezizoides from the same locality. Ag. echinatus, with its remarkable blood-red gills, is found frequently at Sutton Coldfield. At this point in the systematic order comes in the mysterious Ag. versicolor of Withering, of which he found only a few specimens in Edgbaston Park, and which has never since been seen by any other author; yet neither Fries nor the others venture to omit it, because Withering gives so clear and unmistakeable a description as almost to preclude the possibility of error. Ag. luteonitens and Ag. sarcocephalus have been found at Kenilworth; Ag. udus is common in Sutton Park and the neighbourhood, and is also found among the Lickey Hills, accompanied in the latter place by the variety polytrichi. Ag. areolatus has been found at Warwick; Ag. atrorufus at Sutton; Ag. retirugis at Kenilworth and Middleton; and Bolton’s Ag. cinctulus (“History of Funguses,” tab. 152), which is omitted by Fries as possibly incorrectly figured, is said by Purton to be “not rare” near Alcester.
Of the genera allied to Agaricus, the rare species found here are rather few. The district seems to be especially ill supplied with the larger Cortinarii. Scarcely more than thirty species of this genus are recorded, of which the following may be mentioned:—Cortinarius cyanipes, from Kenilworth; C. callochrous, from Edgbaston; C. scaurus, from Packington; C. violaceus, which seems to have been found by Purton; C. callisteus and C. ochroleucus, from Kenilworth; C. sanguineus, in Sutton Park; C. bulbosus, from Oversley; C. armillatus, at Coleshill Pool; C. brunneus (recorded only by Withering among British authors), in Packington Park; and C. hemitrichus, in Sutton Park.
The other gilled genera may be briefly dismissed. Gomphidius viscidus and G. glutinosus have both occurred in the district. Lactarii are not uncommon. L. deliciosus is frequent in a certain part of Sutton Park, and is recorded by both Withering and Purton; it also occurs at Hagley and at Bromsgrove Lickey, but is very local. L. turpis, of large size, abounds in several woods in the neighbourhood of Sutton; L. cilicioides, L. uvidus, L. hysginus, L. zonarius, L. pyrogalus, L. glyciosmus, and L. camphoratus, in addition to the more common species, have all been found; as also Russula delica, R. rosacea, R. citrina, R. lutea, and the very rare R. drimeia, Hygrophorus chrysodon and H. russo-coriaceus have been found at Kenilworth; Purton found the pretty little Marasmius Hudsoni; Lentinus tigrinus is recorded by Withering, from Packington Park; L. adhœrens by both Withering and Purton; and L. lepideus and L. cochleatus have been met with several times. Panus conchatus was found by Withering at Edgbaston, and by Purton at Studley, and the writer has found P. torulosus in Packington Park.
Among the pore-bearing Hymenomycetes, the most striking and rare is Boletus (Strobilomyces) strobilaceus, found at “the Valley,” Bromsgrove, in 1861. Boletus badius is rather common, and is an edible species. The rare B. parasiticus has been found at Middleton; B. striæpes and B. olivaceus are also on record. The writer has found the true Polyporus frondosus Fr. once in Sutton Park, and fine specimens of P. giganteus in Edgbaston Park. Purton records P. heteroclitus from Oversley, and P. molluscus is occasionally found at Sutton and Coleshill Pool. The curious Ptychogaster albus, which is now usually considered a conidial form of a Polyporus, called P. ptychogaster, has occurred in Sutton Park on stumps of firs. Trametes gibbosa is found at Sutton; Dædalea confragosa in the coppice near Windley Pool; and the edible Fistulina hepatica is occasionally met with on old oaks in Sutton Park, Hagley Park, and elsewhere.
Dismissing the rest of the Hymenomycetes, in which there is little worthy of mention to record, we come to the Gastromycetes, or Puff-ball family, in which the spore-bearing surface is more or less concealed within an outer coating, and most frequently breaks up into a dusty mass. The Myxomycetes, which were formerly included in this group, will here be placed in their proper position at the end of the Fungi. Of the aberrant group to which the common Stinkhorn (not very common in this district) belongs, the more brilliant Cynophallus caninus is recorded by Purton, from near Bridgnorth, and was found at Bromsgrove Lickey, in 1856. The very rare and remarkable Earth-star, Geaster coliformis, has not been found in the district to which this notice is limited, but it has been twice found in the county of Worcester. The localities are given as “near Hanley Castle, Worcestershire,” Mr. Ballard, by Withering; and “Hanley Common, Worcestershire,” Mr. Rufford, by Purton. In the same place Geaster fornicatus occurred, and this is said by Withering to have been found also “at Birches Green, near Birmingham.” G. limbatus is recorded from Edgbaston Park, Stonebridge, Allesley, Oversley, and Rushford.
Another group of Fungi is that which grows upon living leaves, the various forms of which are known as Cluster-cups, Rust, Smut and Brand. These are what are usually called Leaf-Fungi. Many species are common here; but, as most kinds grow only upon certain specified plants, it follows that their range is determined in great measure by the presence or absence of their hosts. Podisoma sabinæ and P. juniperi have been found in the district. The only rare cluster-cup recorded is Œcidium depauperans, which occurs every summer on cultivated Violas in a few localities, and in one of these it is uniformly accompanied and followed by the Puccinia, to which the name of Puccinia ægra has been given by the writer. Till lately this Œcidium was not known to occur out of the United Kingdom, but Professor Trelease, of St. Louis, in a private letter says that he has recently seen in the United States specimens apparently identical with it. Puccinia sonchi was found by Mr. Hawkes, near Great Barr, on seedlings of Sonchus, and as yet has not been found anywhere else in Great Britain.
The species of the next group, the Discomycetes, or Cup-fungi, are not uncommon, though few of the showy forms are to be seen. The common Morell occurs, sparingly in the district, and Morchella semilibera is recorded from Badsey. Helvella crispa, H. lacunosa, H. elastica; Mitrula paludosa; Spathularia flavida; Leotia lubrica; Geoglossum glabrum, G. hirsutum, and Rhizina undulata have all been found, though rarely. Among the minuter species may be mentioned Peziza dematiicola, of which the writer found a few specimens at Sutton two years ago, this being the first and at present the only locality cited, since the place where the original specimens of Berkeley were discovered is unknown. P. asperior has been found at Berkswell (the only British locality); the curious P. Curreiana, on rush stems in Sutton Park and elsewhere; and the rare P. Crouani, P. Dalmeniensis, P. stereicola; Ascobolus minutissimus; Vibrissea leptospora; Propolis pyri, and a new species which Mr. Phillips has named Dermatea nectrioides, at various places in the neighbourhood.
The next group of Fungi is the Pyrenomycetes or Globe-fungi. They occur usually on dead bark and wood, or stalks of plants, and are mostly black, more rarely red or brown. Several common species look like grains of gunpowder scattered over the wood. Among these Withering mentions no species at all rare from this district, and Purton only three—Melogramma Bulliardi, M. gastrinum, and Sphæria pomiformis. To these may be added Nectria mammoidea and Hypomyces candicans from near Sutton; Eutypa velutina and E. scabrosa from Berkswell; Valsa cincta Fr., V. aglæostoma, and Sphæria ampullasca, from Sutton; Lophiostoma angustilabra, from Middleton; and the interesting Gymnoascus ruber, which affords a glimpse of the mode by which the Pyrenomycetes were evolved, has appeared in Birmingham itself.
Of the Mucorini or Pin-mould family, to which belongs the pin-shaped mould, so common on decaying meat—two species of Pilobolus, P. œdipus and P. Kleinii, remarkable for their extraordinary explosive power, have been found here and nowhere else in the kingdom. The same is true of two species of Mortierella, M. Candelabrum and M. polycephala, of which even the genus is not known from any other British locality.
Lastly we come to the Myxomycetes, a group which, though distinctly fungal, approximates in some degree to the animal kingdom. These are rather abundant here, nearly one third of the British Species having been found; including the rare Didymium pertusum; Badhamia hyalina; Enerthenema papillatum; Dictydium umbilicatum; Cribraria aurantiaca; Arcyria cinerea, and Prototrichia flagellifera. Worthy of especial notice is Physarum leucophæum Fr., hitherto only known as British by specimens published by Cooke in his “Fungi Britannici.” The writer has found this at Sutton in abundance, and identifies it with the heretofore unidentified Trichia rubiformis of Purton, whose description is accompanied by an exceedingly accurate and picturesque plate (“Midland Flora,” tab. 37.)