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It is true that the climate is unfavourable. Even if at times 

 rain will fall plentily and many days together, the ground, never- 

 theless, is very dry most part of the year. Owing to the shape 

 of the surface and scarcity of mould, the water runs rapidly away 

 and the ground, and what is on it, will soon become quite dry. 

 On account of this the dry climate, together with the always quite 

 unscientific, remorseless treatment of the wood, renders a rich vege- 

 tation of fungi impossible. 



Compared for instance to what is the case in the primeval 

 forests of Santo Domingo there is, as before said, in the Danish 

 West Indies no mould, or mould is very scarce. This fact in con- 

 nection with the spoiling of the woods permits the sun and the 

 wind to dry up the falling trunks, branches and leaves so far that 

 saprophytic fungi can hardly grow here. Consequently very few 

 of the bigger, fleshy Hymenomycetes are to be found and they will 

 appear only sporadic. Anything that might call to mind the vege- 

 tation of fungi in our woods in autumn is never to be seen. 



On wood in the watercourses or guts, that most part of the 

 year are dry, you will find some hard Polyporaceae, though not 

 many. Especially where roads are cut through wood and bush 

 along the guts, and trunks and branches are thrown down into the 

 guts, a rather rich development of Polyporaceae and of some other 

 fungi f. inst. Schizophyllum is to be found on the branches below, 

 where they are best protected against drying up. 



It seemed to me that the development of fungi is richest in 

 the higher parts of the islands f. inst. at Crown on St. Thomas 

 and on the mountain-tops to the west of Coral Bay on St, Jan. 

 The highest mountain-ridges and tops were often wrapt up in rain 

 while the lower regions were quite dry. Also a richer fungi-vege- 

 tation is to be found on the north-side of the mountain-slopes, the 

 north-side being less dry than the south-side. 



Another also rather favourable native-place is on St, Croix 

 along the guts that have water here all the year round. Especially 

 favourable it is where the wood is dense and giving shade over 

 the gut from where the fallen trunks and branches are not removed. 



As fungi in The Danish West Indies upon the whole are very 

 scarce and, besides, most of them are small, one has to look hard 

 for them to get a result. On my excursions I was, as a rule, 

 looking out also for them, but only in some places I gave them a 

 special interest, as f, inst. where I stayed for some time, namely 



