FUNGI OF TEXAS. 



•171 



the country was beautiful, with a gentle rolling surtace some fifteen or 

 twenty feet above the waters of the bay, thickly covered with grasses 

 and flowering plants; and, interspqj'sed with clumps of- the graceful mes- 

 quite tree, {Algarobia glamhdosa,) it presented the appearance of a well- 

 kept lawn. On these prairies the grasses were much further advanced 

 in growth than further north, and I added to my collection many I had 

 not previously seen, and especially one or two species of mesquite grass. 



On our return to Indianola, about one hundred and ten miles north of 

 Corpus Christi, we w^nt out some twelve or fifteen miles into the coun- 

 try — all prairie — and here I was also enabled to add largely to my col- 

 lection of grasses and other phaenogamous plants. I saw but few cryp- 

 togams either at Corpus Christi or Indianola, a few lichens and two or 

 three species of fungi comprising all from those localities. These prairie 

 grasses were as free of cryptogamic growth as those about Houston, and 

 although my attention was specially directed to them, I could see 

 nothing to excite suspicion as to their being differently affected from 

 grasses in other places. There were certainly no entophytal fungi infest- 

 ing them at that time in sufficient quantity to attract my notice. 



The lands which I saw in Texas were all fertile, some of them ex- 

 tremely so. Most of the sm^face was of a fine clayey loam, in some 

 places rather tenacious. From this cause during a wet spring, as the 

 last one was, it was difficult to prepare for cultivation. I was informed 

 along the coast that the best pastures and the most nutritious grasses 

 were found higher up, from fifty to sixty miles above, and there are the 

 best grazing lands. 



About Houston the grasses are killed for a few months during winter, 

 but at Corpus Christi and along the southern coast they remain green 

 and furnish good ])asture all the year round. I here present an analysis 

 of my collection of fungi according to their natural orders, and a com- 

 parison with those of Eev. Dr. Curtis's i^orth Carolina collection, the 

 only full catalogue published in the United States : 



My whole collection amounts to three hundred and fifteen numbers ; 

 l)ut deducting for species too old to be determined, and some reiucsented 

 under other numbers, thirty, the wliole number may be estimated at 

 about two hundred and eighty-five good species. 



It will be seen by the above comparison that the Texan falls below the 



