Austrocortirubin (la) and austrocortilutein (z), the first hydroxylated tetrahydroanthraquinones from Basidiomycetes, have been isolated From an Australian toadstool belonging to the subgenus Dermocybe of Cortinmius. Hydroxylated anthraquinones occur in great variety in toadstools of the genus Cortinarius where they are responsible for the bright yellow, red or green colours of fruit bodies. I,2 Due to Steglich3 many of these quinones have been identified l-3 and now occupy an important position in the taxonomy of the group. Thus, studies of their distribution among British, 4 European,5 N.6 and S. American' Cortinarius have demonstrated the possibility of differentiating infrageneric taxa conveniently by monitoring pigment content and thus alleviating nomenclatural confusion which exists in Dermocybe. 4 In view of the importance of pigments to the systematics of Cortinarius and the lack of chemical knowledge of Australian members we examined the fruit bodies of a red Cortinarius toadstool* collected in Victoria, Australia, and report here the presence of two novel hydroxylated tetrahydroanthraquinones, @ and 2. We also note our failure to detect any of the familiar Cortinarius anthraquinones l-3 . in this species. 8