140 
Journal of Mycology 
[Vol. 12 
dry season. Clouds are formed continuously in the highest 
mountain regions and especially about the cones of the vol¬ 
canoes, but the rainfall does not seem to be excessive at these alti¬ 
tudes. There is an arid region supporting a purely xerophytic 
vegetation, in the central portion of the country, beginning at 
Gualan, 80 miles from Puerto Barrios, in the valley of the 
Motagua, extending to El Rancho 130 miles from the Port just 
named; thence westward and northwestward through Salama, 
in the Department of Baja Verapaz. Tree Cacti of the Cereus 
Opuntia and Peireskia types, and spinous Leguminosae are the 
characteristic forms. The grass and other vegetation seems to 
be absolutely dead during the dry season yet when the rains be¬ 
gin in the Spring everything becomes suddenly and intensely 
green, as if by magic. Here however the rainfall is less than in 
any other part of the Republic. This sharply marked seasonal 
change from extreme wet to extreme dry — each of the two 
seasons about the same length — accounts for the pronounced 
xerophytic aspect of the vegetation. The low-lying countries and 
the high peaks or crests of the mountains have however the usual 
character of moist tropical countries. Two of the mountain lakes 
are of considerable size; the largest Lake Atitlan, in the Depart¬ 
ment of Solola, is about 8 or 10 miles in length and nearly as 
broad; it has a depth of 1,000 feet; there is no known outlet. 
Lake Amatitlan, situated in the Department of Amatitlan, 
is about 7 or 8 miles long but only one to 3 miles wide; it is 75 
to 100 feet deep, and is drained by the Rio Michatoya. The shore 
vegetation and that of the mountains forming the steep-sloping 
walls is strongly xerophytic in character. Some of the craters 
of the numerous extinct volcanoes are occupied by little lakes. 
Only two very large rivers, but with rather narrow valleys, 
drain the eastern side of the Republic — these being the Rio 
Grande, but usually called the Motagua, south of the Sierra de 
las Minas, and the Rio Dulce, called the Polochic above Lake 
Izabal, north of this mountain range. The Chixoy, further north 
called the Usumacinta, in the central part of the country, flows 
northward into Mexico. The rivers on the Pacific side are very 
numerous and need not be individually mentioned. For a cor¬ 
rect account of the climate, rainfall, lakes and rivers of the De¬ 
partment of El Peten no sufficient data are at hand — besides, 
no mycological collections have as yet been made in that region. 
PUERTO BARRIOS AND LIVINGSTON. 
The places first visited for the purpose of making mycologi¬ 
cal collections in 1905 and 1906 were Puerto Barrios and Liv¬ 
ingston on the Atlantic coast, that is to say on the Honduras Bay. 
Immediately back of the low mangrove-skirted coast at Puerto 
Barrios lies an extensive tropical swamp, covered by impene- 
