260 Mycological Bulletin Nos. 65 and 66 [Vol. IV 



"As the rate of growth of mushrooms is a matter of some interest, 

 individuals of this species were selected in as early stages as possible, 

 and measured twice a day, until they had reached maturity. These 

 measurements were taken in the morning and evening at the same 

 time every day, the day interval between them being of eight hours 

 and the night of sixteen. A large number of individuals were measured 

 during the period from March 22 to April 4, but complete records 

 were obtained from only eig'hteen, owing to the sensitiveness of the 

 mushrooms. * * * 



"As No. A was a very typical specimen, and as the most complete 

 record was obtained of this, I shall describe its growth in some detail. 

 The first measuren^ents were taken in the morning. During the first 

 8-hour period by day. the plant did not change. However, during the 

 following night, it began to grow slowly until it was 10 mm. high. On 

 the following day, the stem entered on a period of very active growth, 

 which lasted about fifty-six hours, until the plant was 145 mm. high. 

 During this period of active growth, the rate at first increased, and 

 then decreased slightly. The stem continued growing slowly for six- 

 teen hours after this rapid growth interval. 



Hie pileus began to grow slowly at the same time as the stem. It 

 increased steadily, but slowly, for si.x'ty-four hours, with width remaining 

 slightly less than the length. During the last day of the most active 

 stem growth, tlie width of the pileus made a rapid increase, from 8 to 

 20 mm. and continued broadening for .32 hours, after the stem had 

 ceased to grow, until it reached 40 mm. At the same time the length 

 continued increasing slowly till it reached 25 mm. 



"The plant was growiup" six days and five nights, after its first ap- 

 pearance above the .'■oil. The growth appeared to be no more rapid by 

 nipht than by day. This was true also of the other specimens measured. 

 In plant A the greatest growth which took place in any one period was 

 during the third day. In the other plants it occurred sometimes by day 

 and sometimes by niight. * * * 



"A few plants were marked to determine in what region of the stem 

 the greatest growth took place. A section of the pileus was cut off in 

 each ca.se so that the whole stem, from the ground to the point where 

 it joined the pileus, might be taken into account. The marks were 

 placed 2 mm anart. The marked mushrooms were very sensitive to injury 

 and for this reason I was not able to get records more than three times 

 from each plpnt. The records show that the greatest increase in length 

 took place near the top of the stem. It was usually not in the topmost 

 interval, b"t ir one or two down from the top, near the margin of the 

 pileus. The plants grew for several intervals down the stem, but no 

 growth took pbce in the lowest ones. 



"The.se results in regard to the position of growth in the stem 

 are similar to those rbtained bv J. SchuMtz in 1841, from the Hymenomy- 

 cetes. He divided the stem into thirds and found the greatest 

 growth to take place in the topmost third, less growth in the middle 

 third, and very slight or no growth in the bottom third. In some 

 plants he divided his topmost interxal into two parts and found that 

 ill many cases the tojimost half c^rew less than the one l)eiieatli, altli()U"Ii 

 there were a great many variations from this." 



New Cuban Mushrooms. — We fird a brief account of .scientific work 

 heretofore df)ne for the Island of Cubi. ruid two dozen new species describ- 

 ed, and nearly ;'1I of tlxni figured, in the h'irst Annual Report of the Agri- 

 cultural Experiment Station issued from Santiago de las Vagas, Cuba, by 

 F. S. Earle. The report is in Spanish, as also is this account of "Ahninos 

 Ilongos Cubanos," and the descriptions of th« new species are published 



