Fungi of the Marshall Islands — Rogers 
island next to Biebi on the northeast, and 
connected to it by a stretch of reef exposed 
at low tide, is unnamed on the charts; ac¬ 
cording to Marshallese informants it is called 
"Eniarmij.” Riri in Wotje Atoll lies next to 
Ormed on the east; it is named on chart 
6018. Imrodj in Jaluit Atoll is shown im¬ 
mediately above "N. E. Pass” on chart 5414, 
and named on 6007. 
August and September fall within the 
rainy season for the Marshalls, and there had 
been recent rainfall, enough not only to 
moisten the soil but even to soak the fallen 
logs, on all the islands except Ebon; often 
there were showers or heavy rains during 
the collecting trips. On Ebon there had been 
no rain for some time, and the paddies de¬ 
voted to the cultivation of Cyrtosperma 
contained mud but no standing water; never¬ 
theless, soil and vegetable debris were damp 
and supported an abundant growth of fungi. 
On the evidence of the vegetation, as well 
as of published accounts, there is a consider¬ 
able increase in rainfall in the archipelago as 
one goes from north to south; the vegetation 
of the northern islands is somewhat more 
open and poorer in species, and lichens and 
other epiphytes are distinctly less abundant, 
than in the islands south of Kwajalein. 
Mejit, in the northern part of the group and 
also considerably east of its nearest neigh¬ 
bors (Utirik, Ailuk, and Wotje), appears 
much wetter than they. Ebon, the southern¬ 
most atoll of the archipelago, alone of those 
visited supports the dense tangle of under¬ 
growth and the abundant epiphytes that 
usually enter into the description of a jungle. 
Any further attempt to characterize the vege¬ 
tation is beyond the scope of this report, and 
must be left for Dr. St. John’s account of 
the vascular plants. 
I have been able to discover few dis¬ 
cussions of the fungi of the Marshalls. 
Ehrenberg (1820) described Scaphophorum 
* Agaricoides, Boletus Katui, B. sanguineus, 
Sphaeria jur, and S. profuga from collec¬ 
tions by Chamisso in the Radak chain; these 
93 
were reduced to synonymy ( S . Agaricoides 
= Schizophyllum commune, B. Katui = 
Polyporus xanthopus, B. sanguineus = P. 
sanguineus ) or redescribed, and validly pub¬ 
lished, by Fries (1821: 371, 504, 505; 
1823: 431, 488); the two species of Sphaeria 
were transferred to Metasphaeria by Saccardo 
(1883: 182). Hennings (1897) listed or 
described from Jaluit 13 species, from col¬ 
lections bySchwabe and byFinsch: Auricula- 
ria auricula-judae, Polystictus sanguineus, 
Schizophyllum Alneum, Pomes amhoinensis, 
Polyporus Kamphoeveneri, Marasmius cal¬ 
io pus var. jaluitensis P. Henn., M. Pandani- 
cola P. Henn., Psathyrella disseminata, 
Psathyra Schwaheana P. Henn., Hypholomd 
jaluitensis P. Henn., Galera sp. (confertae 
aff.), Pleurotus Schwaheanus P. Henn., and 
Lachnea jaluitensis P. Henn. Schumann and 
Lauterbach (1901: 37-63) combined Ehren- 
berg’s and Hennings’s lists, treating Psathyra 
Schwaheana under Pratella and Pleurotus 
Schwaheanus under Agaricus, and, for some 
incomprehensible reason, reporting Meta¬ 
sphaeria jur as (( Metasphaeria Jus.” Volkens 
(1903: 84) listed only species already re¬ 
ported. No other reports have come to my 
attention. Thus, unless there are studies pub¬ 
lished during the Japanese occupation which 
have been overlooked, the recorded myco- 
biota of the Marshall Islands embraces 16 
species. The University of Hawaii party 
brought back approximately 425 specimens 
of fungi, of which 126 specimens, repre¬ 
senting 34 species (2 of them new), are here 
listed. The study of this material is con¬ 
tinuing, and other reports will be published. 
In the interests of brevity, in listing speci¬ 
mens only the atoll is given where but one 
island of the cluster furnished collections of 
fungi, and the date is omitted unless collec¬ 
tions were made on an island on more than 
one day. Except where otherwise noted, the 
collector is D. P. Rogers and the numbers are 
”D. P. R. . . .” Portions of all Marshallese 
specimens have been deposited in the Bishop 
Museum (occasionally indicated by the sym- 
