218 .nfycological BuUciin No. 55 [Vol. IV 



'•QUOTATION PAGE." 



QuoT.\TiON. — The item we give below appeared in the Journal of My- 

 cology and pertains to an interesting observation by Prof. Sturgis on the 

 unseasonal occurrence of the IMorelle : 



"Remarkable OccuRRE^•CE of IvIorchella esculenta (L.) Pers. — 

 During a recent hunting trip in southwestern British Columbia the writer 

 came across this fungus growing in such abundance and in a location and 

 at a season of the year so unusual that the circumstances seem worth re- 

 cording. Usually one expects to find MorchcUa in the Spring growing 

 on the borders of meadows or other grassy places. In the present instance 

 the plants were found in September on a steep mountain side which had, 

 within a little over a year, been subjected to a destructive forest fire. 



"On September 11th the writer was skirling the precipitous side of a 

 mountain at an altitude of about 7,000 feet and while passing through 

 what had been a fairly good growth of aspens and small spruces, a few 

 fine specimens of Morchella were noticed. Further search revealed the 

 presence of these plants literally in hundreds. A fire had passed across 

 the mountain in June 1904, leaving only the skeletons of the trees standing 

 and charring the ground to such a depth that no trace of green vegetation 

 has since appeared. Under these unfavorable circumstances and at a sea- 

 son when snow had already fallen not far from the locality a bushel of 

 MorchcUas might have been gathered within a radius of one hundred 

 yards. The specimens were exceptionally fine, in some cases attaining a 

 height of seven inches and a circumference around the pileus of ten inches. 

 In such specimens the pileus usually showed a great variety of form, from 

 conical and flattened to nearly spherical. In other cases the pileus more 

 nearly resembled that of M. conica Pers. The base of the stipe was in all 

 cases much swollen and consisted of a mass of mycelium and soil cemented 

 into a sclerotoid mass. Specimens were secured from which the identity 

 of the funo^us was later determined. 



"The interesting question arises whether, on the western slopes of 

 the Rocky Mountains, MorrhcMa usually occurs in the Autumn rather than 

 in the Spring as elsewhere, and also how the presence of the particular 

 .specimens is to be accounted for. It is hardly possible that the spores 

 could have been carried to the locality in sufficient quantity to have pro- 

 duced in one season so large a growth of plants, and it is almost equally 

 inconceivable that a subterranean mycelium could have resisted a degree of 

 heat sufficient to destroy permanently all surface vegetation and leave the 

 ground a desolate waste of charred clay." [W. C. Sturgis, Journal of 

 Mycolog}'.] 



Quotation. — An extremely interesting letter was received during the 

 sumrner from Mr. Pierson L. Halsey, secretary of the Wisconsin Myco- 

 iogical Society, Mi!v\aukee. We reproduce such parts as make plain tiie 

 matter referred to : 



"I enclose with tliis mail a small package and specimens of a com- 

 mon musliroom in gardens. * * * * 



"On Saturday, Julv S. 1005. the family of J E . of our city. 



was reported in the press as seriously poisoned by eating toadstools from 

 their garden. 1 forthwith investigated yesterday morning, getting the 

 remains of specimens, the cut-off stems, one of the enclosed, and whatever 

 were left, which was very few. Also the reports of the two attending 

 physicians in full. 'I'bere is no possible doubt as to tliis lieing tlie only 

 mushroom eaten. 



"They were cut, something over a pound, from tlie kitchen garden 

 beneath potato vires, rich, sandy loam, highly fertilized, and imnicchatelv 

 fried gills up with butter, salt and pepper, in a large (Iriojiing pan, full. 

 :vT,-. E ate very heartily (he says he ate a iiotmd, which is question- 

 able). Mrs. E -and two Httlc girls, aged 10 and 8. ale only a few. the 



o-irls not o-.er ten caps eacli. Aliout ten minutes after tlieir me;il Mr. 



E came in feeling very di/./y and fotuul his wife reeling on tlie tabic 



complaining ol being queer; in aliout ten minutes t''e girls complained of 

 diz'iness and tired fe?ling in the limbs and arms. Mrs. E— — 's arms and 

 liands were trembling mid slie had 'no strenglh' and she couldn't 'see 



