Pneumocystis is an enigmatic organism, the clinical significance of which remained unrecognised until recently. It is a respiratory pathogen, causing pneumonia which, if untreated, is fatal. For many years its very nature was shrouded in uncertainty, but we now know unequivocally that it is a fungus and an important agent of fungal disease in certain specific settings. Pneumocystis was first seen in the lungs of guinea pigs by Carlos Chagas in 1909, and then in rat lungs by Antonio Carini. Both thought it was a type of trypanosome. In 1912, the Delanoë husband-and-wife team recognised that it was a distinct organism and named it Pneumocystis carinii, on account of the cyst-like morphology of the organism and in honour of Antonio Carini. It was first seen as an infection in humans in the 1920s, among infants with interstitial plasma cell pneumonia.

It is remarkable that a highly prized, edible species such as Caesar's mushroom (Amanita caesarea (Scop.: Fr.) Pers.) should belong to the same group as the most toxic mushrooms such as the Death cap (A. phalloides (Fr.) Link), the Destroying angel (A. virosa (Fr.) Bertillon) and the Fly agaric (A. muscaria (L.) Fr.). It is a species frequently encountered in Italian restaurants, and in the market places of Italy, Spain and southern France. Clearly, the greatest care must be taken to avoid confusion with other Amanita species if it collected in the wild. It occurs in warm, dry, Mediterranean localities, typically under oak or sweet chestnut from late summer onwards, and can be found in great abundance. The restricted distribution may extend slightly into eastern Europe but not northwards.

The Inupiaq and Yup'ik Eskimos of western Alaska have used Phellinus igniarius for hundreds of years by burning the basidiocarps and mixing the ashes with tobacco. A previous publication (Mycologist 15: p.4) reported the historic use of this fungus and documented natural history museum collections of sporophores and special ornate boxes for holding the fungus ashes. When the ashes of P. igniarius were mixed with tobacco it added “a powerful kick” to the chewing tobacco. We now report new information that is disconcerting about the current widespread use of P. igniarius in many Alaska native communities. The use of the mixture of fungus ash and tobacco is being studied and treated as a serious health concern.

Confusion still surrounds the identify and even the common name of the causal agent of frosty pod rot of cocoa, nearly 70 years after its placement in the genus Monilia, and over 20 years since its transfer to the new genus Moniliophthora, which was erected to accommodate what was considered to be a basidiomycete anamorph. Based on molecular and cytological evidence, we confirm that the fungus belongs in the Basidiomycotina and is closely related to the witches' broom pathogen of cocoa, Crinipellis perniciosa (Tricholomataceae: Agaricales). However, the only known reproductive stage in the life-cycle does not, in fact, represent the anamorph since meiosis occurs during sporogenesis and germination. The meiospore is interpreted to be a radically modified basidium, which performs a sexual, dispersal and resting function. The genus Moniliophthora, therefore, can no longer be maintained and must be reduced to synonymy with Crinipellis. The new combination, Crinipellis roreri, is proposed.

Name of fungi: Aphanoascus, Arthroderma, Auxarthron, Ctenomyces, Gymnoascus (Ascomycota: Onygenales)

Introduction: features of interest

Members of the order Onygenales produce asci within gymnothecia, which consist of a mesh of rigid interlinked hyphae. Highly characteristic appendages are often present; they may be straight or curved and branched or unbranched, and they are an important character for identification of species and genera (Currah, 1985). Despite the striking appearance of the gymnothecial appendages, their ecological role is poorly understood at present. Together with the rigid hyphae of the gymnothecium, they may protect the asci from attack by mites (Summerbell, 2000), and they may also aid dispersal by attaching the gymnothecium to the fur of small mammals. Many Onygenales producing appendages are found in the burrows of animals and feed on their hair (keratin).

The genus Fusarium is surely known by everyone who looks at moulds associated with plants and soil, especially with its characteristic hyaline, multiseptate, slightly curved macroconidia. Nevertheless, it still seems a daunting task identifying isolates to species. The complexity of the genus is reflected in the number of ascomycete genera such as Nectria, Calonectria and Gibberella, which have Fusarium as the anamorph state. On the other hand many species of Fusarium have no known teleomorph. Colin Booth, President of the BMS in 1977, produced an invaluable monograph on the genus (Booth, 1971) and later, reviews by Nelson et al. (1983) and Gerlach & Nirenberg (1982) also help to make the genus more accessible.

For almost eighty years, I have had an intermittent interest in Ganoderma adspersum and Fomes fomentarius, both of which form large woody basidiomes on the trunks of beech trees. The first encounter with Ganoderma was in Clandeboye Domain near Bangor in Northern Ireland when, after a titanic struggle, a huge specimen was detached from a beech tree and borne in triumph to the Botany Department near the start of my undergraduate life in 1922 at Queen's University, Belfast. A couple of years later I read the first two volumes of Buller's ‘Researches on Fungi’ and was excited by his perceptive analysis of Ganoderma in relation to spore liberation (Buller, 1922).

Soil samples collected from glacier banks of Gulmarg, Khilanmarg, Sonamarg and Tangmarg of Kashmir valley, were examined for the prevalence of keratinophilic fungi and related dermatophytes. From the 72 positive samples (67.3 %), a total of seven genera with eleven species were isolated viz. Chrysosporium keratinophilum (3.7 %), Chrysosporium tropicum (5.6 %), Chrysosporium state of Ctenomyces serratus (11.2 %), Geomyces pannorum (2.8 %), Malbranchea sp. (0.9 %), Microsporum gypseum complex (20.6 %), Microsporum nanum (1.9 %), Microsporum vanbreuseghemii (0.9 %), Trichophyton ajelloi (15 %), Trichophyton terrestre (2.8 %) and Uncinocarpus reesii (1.9 %).

Three species of Lentinus from Cameroon, L. sajor-caju (Fr.) Fr., L. squarrosulus Mont. and L. velutinus Fr. Were investigated in laboratory culture. L. velutinus produced xylarioid outgrowths in both monosperm and polysperm cultures, but these structures were observed only to a lesser extent in polysperm cultures of L. squarrosulus, and those of L. sajor-caju, as well as their respective monosperm cultures, remained sterile. Extracellular oxidase tests revealed all three species to be white-rot fungi.

Mycophagy of Biscogniauxia stromata by rats and beetles on New Zealand's offshore islands is illustrated and discussed.

An unidentified specimen collected by the author in 1978 at Maqluba Malta under a Carob Tree (Ceratonia siliqua), was examined and determined by Prof. Leif Ryvarden in November 2001 as Coriolopsis aspera (Jungh) Teng (Polyporaceae). This specimen is deposited at the author's private herbarium (MB902), and a part of it is also deposited at the University of Oslo.