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Mycologia 



At Guadaloupe Mines there is a spot where the ground is moist 

 yet warm, beneath a cluster of live oaks, which every season may 

 be depended upon to supply numerous species over a long season. 

 As an illustration of succession of fungi that may be found and 

 the necessity for a constant going over the same ground, my collec- 

 tions for this season will be of value. In November, Hysteran- 

 gium species ; January, Gautieria species ; February, Genea species ; 

 March, Tuber species, and April, Tuber species and Hydnobolites 

 species. All these were more or less abundant and occurred within 

 an area of less than one hundred square feet. In other seasons 

 this same spot has yielded many other species. In another location 

 where intensive search was made two seasons ago with success the 

 same ground was recently gone over with great care and tubers 

 collected that are probably the most important yet found in the 

 United States. At Saratoga under a single tree that produced a 

 number of species two seasons ago there was collected in February 

 of this year on a single day nine genera and fourteen species. 



The equipment of the truffle hunter is important. I use a wheel 

 on many trips, as the roads are excellent and the stops are very 

 frequent in some places. It is easily hidden in the brush when I 

 leave the roadways and take to the high hills, and it makes accessi- 

 ble places otherwise out of one's reach. To the wheel is strapped 

 a small combination rake and hoe with a four-foot handle. This 

 implement is very useful in climbing, raking and digging and fur- 

 nishes good protection in a snake country, as I well know. A 

 short-handled hoe useful for work in thick brush, a trowel, knife, 

 tweezers, lens, kodak, plenty of newspapers and a large number of 

 small pasteboard cartridge boxes obtained at a shooting gallery. 

 These small boxes are very useful in handling the many small 

 specimens or single individual specimens, while large collections 

 are wrapped in the paper. Lunch and thermos bottle complete the 

 outfit, and all are packed compactly in the large canvas bags used 

 by newsboys. These bags ride comfortably with a large load 

 evenly distributed over the shoulders. 



In the earlier parts of the season the edges of the forests and 

 the small groups of trees are usually the best places for operations, 

 although frequently the dense forest will yield good specimens. 



