282 FUNGI. 



European genera, with many species at present peculiar to itself 

 Tropical forms extend upwards into the Southern States. 



The islands of the West Indies have been more or less ex- 

 amined, but none so thoroughly as Cuba, at first by Ramon de la 

 Sagra, and afterwards by Wright.* The three principal genera 

 of Hymenomycetes represented are Agaricus^ JM-arasmius, and 

 Polyporus, represented severally by 82, 51, and 120 species, 

 amounting to more than half the entire number. Of the 490 

 species, about 57 per cent, are peculiar to the island; 13 per 

 cent, are widely dispersed species ; 12 per cent, are common te 

 the island and Central America, together with the warmer parts 

 of South America and Mexico ; 3 per cent, are common to it 

 with the United States, especially the Southern ; while 13 per 

 cent, are European species, including, however, 13 which may 

 be considered as cosmopolitan. Some common tropical species 

 do not occur, and, on the whole, the general character seems 

 sub-tropical rather than tropical. Many of the species are 

 decidedly those of temperate regions, or at least nearly allied. 

 Perhaps the most interesting species are those which occur in 

 the genera Craterellus and laschia, the latter genus, especially, 

 yielding several new forms. The fact that the climate is, on the 

 whole, more temperate than that of some other islands in the 

 same latitudes, would lead us to expect the presence of a com- 

 paratively large number of European species, or those which 

 are found in the more northern United States, or British North 

 America, and may account for the fact that so small a propor- 

 tion of species should be identical with those from neighbouring 

 islands. 



In Central America only a few small collections have been 

 made, which indicate a sub-tropical region. 



From the northern parts of South America, M. Leprieur 

 collected in French Guiana, t Southwards of this, Spruce col- 

 lected in the countries bordering on the River Amazon, and 



* Berkeley and Curtis, " Fungi Cubensis," in "Journ. Linn. Soc." (1868); 

 Ramon de la Sagra, ''Hist. Phys. de 1'Isle de Cuba, Cryptogaraes, par Montagne" 

 (1841); Montagne, in "Ann. des Sci. Nat." February, 1842. 



f Montagne, "Cryptogamia Guyanensis," "Ann. Sci. Nat." 4 nie ser. iii. 



