Phalloid Fungi in Hawaii!

THE ORDER Phallales, as outlined by Cunningham (1942) and Zeller (1949), contains three families and approximately 20 genera of fleshy basidiomycetes, which, because of their usually stalked fruiting bodies and foetid odor, are commonly called "the stinkhorns." The group includes some of the most bizarre and unusual of the fungi . The Phallales appear to be poorly represented in Hawaii, at least insofar as present records indicate. Five species, representing five genera in two families, have been collected in the Islands . It is the purpose of this report to summarize current knowledge of the group in Hawaii, in the hope that this will stimulate further collecting and reporting of these interesting fungi . We are indebted to N . A. Cobb, formerly chief plant pathologist with the Hawaiian Sugar Planters' Association Experiment Station, for much of our knowledge of the phalloids in Hawaii. Cobb's observations on fruit body development and spore dispersal in these fungi are among the most detailed to be found in mycological literature (Cobb, 1906, 1909). Unfortunately, they appear to have been overlooked by many mycologists. Because he associated these fungi with root disease in sugar cane, Cobb devoted much attention to them, and was particularly concerned with factors affecting their growth, dispersal, and survival in sugar cane fields. He very carefully studied the feeding habits of the sarcophagous flies which feed on the spores of these fungi, and which are the agents of spore dispersal, and demonstrated that the fungus spores can pass unharmed through the gut of the insect. In light of present knowedge of the behavior of many coprophilous fungi, this fact does not seem surprising, but it appears to be