Update in Mycology.

Here I have the privilege of publishing some reports from the field of mycology, passed along to me by Tanarian Davies, a mycophile of the first order.

First, a lovely array of the mushrooms from the Caledon Botanical Society:

Photographic collection courtesy Dame Lapin Paris

"As beautiful and terrible as an army arrayed for battle." -- Ed.

I will again pass the request for further information, data, supposition, intrigue, or startling conclusions. Please send them via notecard, and I shall endeavour to disseminate them.


Mycological note, for your commentary and feedback
Tanarian Davies, 2008-05-23 16:19:53

A proposal for the classification of mushrooms by shape and structure:

Type 1: Bulbous, near-round cap; has annulus; short stem

• Bellambia
• Darkle's
• Cutie (stretched)
• Dusty
• Theobroma
• Xeno

Type 2: Concave, peaked cap; no annulus; short stem

• Bardhaven's
• Boomslang's
• Devil's
• Amongus
• Royal Toadstool
• Story Morel (stretched)
• Tasty Nonesuch (stretched)

Type 3: Bell-shaped cap; no annulus; moderate stem

• Ordinalus
• Monk
• Morte
• Royal Deathcap

Type 4: "Classic" flattened-dome cap; no annulus; long stem

• Glowgill (stretched)
• Davanicus
• Nicholas
• Shroomus
• Tears
• Truffle (stretched)

Audrey Fotherington identifies another ring
Tanarian Davies, 2008-05-24 09:15:11

Caledon Downs: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Caledon%20Downs/167/115/44
(it's right across from that new Hatpins shop and next to the tracks)


Notes on picking up extremely rare species
Bryndal Ellison, 2008-05-25 19:11:28

Bellambia - picked up 4:08 pm SLT, Eyre (Local Night)
Elf Ear - picked up 11:23 am SLT, Absinthe (Day)
DeathCap for Cutie - picked up approx 2:14 pm SLT, Laudanum (Day)



Mycological observerations, 25 May
Tanarian Davies, 2008-05-25

Laudanum: Cutie @ 09:26, 10:19, 19:20, 20:30
Absinthe: Elf Ears @ 01:29, 10:28, 19:00, 19:51

(all Winterfell times SLT only)
----------------------------------
Glengarry: Deathcap @ 11:49 local/17:56 SLT, 2:25?local/18:33 STL (approx)
RCT 14:50 lcl/18:42 SLT
Bellambia 03:04 lcl/00:13 SLT (26th)
Eyre: RCT 09:06 lcl/21:14 SLT



Latest mushroom info/rumors
Tanarian Davies, 2008-05-26

Guvnah Shang wandered into Glengarry while I was holding watch yesterday, and stirred up a whole lot of Xenos, but also =confirmed= as far as he was going to that 24 IS the number of currently available mushrooms.

He implied that at one of the three other previously-referenced locations -- Lovelace, Brythony, Saint Kitt Islands - would be getting mushrooms soon, but would not confirm which ONE. He said I was "partially right".

I also got the impression we're getting much closer to cooking time.

Tanarian
Yes, I'm still a mushroom




Field Guide v.1.0
Otenth Paderborn, 2008-05-26 00:40:25
Adapted from http://www.caledonwiki.com/index.php?title=Shrooms
25 May 2008

Known locations (courtesy of Miss Tanarian Davies)

• Laudanum 145,97
• Absinthe 114,131
• Winterfell 61.227
• Tanglewood 130,119
• Moors 106,44
• Kittiwickshire 113,191
• Glengarry 168,163
• Eyre 172,96
• Downs 166,114
• Brigadoon 115,141

BardHaven's Bane (Advocatus diaboli)
Location - Absinthe (South), Laudanum (South), Winterfell (North)
Frequency - Uncommon
Type: Thaumalate Cap: Glowing; violet-pink with lighter pink spots Upper stem: Pink with black spots Lower stem: Pink

Bellambia
Location - Eyre (Central)[1], Glengarry (Central)
Frequency - Rare
Type: Oblate Cap: Vivid red with large white spots and small black dots Upper stem: Yellow and brown tiger pattern Lower stem: Yellow

Bilious Glowgill
Location - Absinthe (South), Laudanum (South), Winterfell (North)
Frequency - Common
Type: Patellate (extremely vertical extended) Cap: Glowing; pale green with brown spots, darker green gills Upper stem: Dark blue annulus, fading to medium blue then back to dark blue Lower stem: Green band fading into grey

Boomslang's Toadstool
Location - Brigadoon (Central), Downs (Central), Eyre (Central, night only), Glengarry (Central), Kittiwickshire (North), Tanglewood (Central), Victoria City (Central)
Frequency - Common
Type: Thaumalate Cap: Medium brown Upper stem: Dark brown Lower stem: White

Caledon Ordinalus
Location - Brigadoon (Central), Downs (Central), Eyre (Central, night only), Glengarry (Central), Kittiwickshire (North), Tanglewood (Central), Victoria City (Central)
Frequency - Common
Type: Campanulate Cap: Cream with yellow-brown splodges Upper stem: Light green Lower stem: Grey

Darkle's Bane
Location - Downs (Central), Eyre (Central), Glengarry (Central), Tanglewood (Central)
Frequency - Uncommon
Type: Oblate Cap: Deep red with black, pink and white spots Upper stem: Pink with white mottling Lower stem: White

Death Cap for Cutie
Location - Laudanum (South)[1]
Frequency - Extremely rare
Type: Oblate (extremely radially extended) Cap: Glowing; pink with dark pink and white spots Upper stem: Pink with dark pink mottling Lower stem: Black

Devil's Minion
Location - Downs (Central), Eyre (Central), Victoria City (Central)
Frequency - Uncommon
Type: Thaumalate Cap: Orange with two "eye"-like black spots Upper stem: Brown Lower stem: White

Dusty Stinker (Proditoris crepusculis)
Location - Absinthe (South), Laudanum (South)
Frequency - Common
Type: Oblate Cap: Glowing; blue-grey with sky-blue and pale yellow spots Upper stem: Yellow with blue veins Lower stem: Pale blue

Elf Ear
Location - Absinthe (Central) [1],
Frequency - Extremely rare
Type: Thaumalate (vertically extended) Cap: Glowing; white with black and grey spots Upper stem: White with black spots fading into green Lower stem: Greenish-black

Fungus Amongus
Location - Absinthe (South), Laudanum (South), Moors (Central, night)
Frequency - Common
Type: Thaumalate Cap: Glowing; yellow with green-black spots and a tan point Upper stem: Chartreuse with black spots Lower stem: Greenish-black

Fungus Davanicus
Location - Eyre (Central)
Frequency - Rare
Type: Patellate Cap: Green with darker green spots Upper stem: Bright red Lower stem: Cream

Malevolent Monk
Location - Eyre (Central, night), Winterfell (Central)
Frequency - Rare
Type: Campanulate Cap: Glowing; dark red with pink spots, lighter red band around cap Upper stem: Pink Lower stem: Light green, mottled

Morte Velox
Location - Downs (Central), Eyre (Central, night), Glengarry (Central, night), Tanglewood (Central)
Frequency - Uncommon
Type: Campanulate Cap: Coral-orange with green and grey spots Upper stem: Tan Lower stem: Grey, mottled

Nicholas Shroom
Location - Eyre (Central), Glengarry (Central, night), Tanglewood (Central)
Frequency - Uncommon
Type: Patellate Cap: Grey with green and dark grey spots Upper stem: Dull red Lower stem: White

Royal Caledon Deathcap
Location - Eyre (Central), Glengarry (Central)
Frequency - Rare
Type: Campanulate Cap: Black with vivid red spots Upper stem: Paler red Lower stem: Dark grey, mottled

Royal Caledon Toadstool
Location - Eyre (Central), Glengarry (Central)
Frequency - Sporadic
Type: Thaumalate Cap: Bright red with two "eye"-like black spots Upper stem: Brown Lower stem: White

Shroomus Caledonus
Location - Brigadoon (Central), Downs (Central), Eyre (Central), Glengarry (Central), Kittiwickshire (North), Tanglewood (Central), Victoria City (Central)
Frequency - Common
Type: Patellate Cap: Grey-green Upper stem: Tan Lower stem: White

Story Morel
Location - Absinthe (South), Laudanum (South), Moors (Central, night)
Frequency - Sporadic
Type: Campanulate Cap: Glowing; yellow with a green band, olive mottling and olive & blue spots Upper stem: Darker yellow-green with continuation of mottling Lower stem: Screaming purple

Tasty Nonesuch (Boletus edulis incomparabilis)
Location - Absinthe (South), Laudanum (South), Moors (Central, night), Winterfell (North)
Frequency - Common
Type: Campanulate Cap: Glowing; multicoloured (green-black top, red/coral/yellow/green, blue/purple edge) Upper stem: Green/blue-violet Lower stem: Blue-violet

Tremella Theobroma (the Common Chocolate Shake)
Location - Winterfell (North)
Frequency - Uncommon
Type: Oblate Cap: Glowing, light cocoa-brown with lighter and darker spots Upper stem: Green, black spots Lower stem: Black

Winterfell Tears
Location - Laudanum (South), Moors (Central, night)
Frequency - Uncommon
Type: Patellate Cap: Glowing; vivid purple with blue-violet and pink spots Upper stem: Hot pink with blue-violet veining Lower stem: Electric blue fading to pink

Winterfell Truffle
Location - Winterfell (North)
Frequency - Uncommon
Type: Patellate (extremely radially extended) Cap: Glowing; mottled brown with darker spots Upper stem: Green Lower stem: Blue-grey

Xenobiologus Horgidae
Location - Brigadoon (Central), Downs (Central), Eyre (Central), Glengarry (Central), Kittiwickshire (North), Tanglewood (Central), Victoria City (Central)
Frequency - Common
Type: Oblate Cap: Yellow-green with yellow spots Upper stem: Light blue veined with yellow Lower stem: White

In Search of ... Fungus!

On behalf of myself and Mr JJ Drinkwater, I would like to announce the collaboration of the Caledon Library and the Royal Society for the Advancement of Knowledge in the Natural Sciences in the matter of cataloguing our surroundings.

A recent article reported by the BBC, "Rare lichen find a European first" shows that the Real World still holds some secrets of nature waiting to be discovered. Our Second World is no exception, as new reports of Caledonian flora and fauna have been surfacing in recent days.

Please join us in our efforts; consider yourselves deputised to the office of Field Scientist, ready to relay your observations from the wild.

If you come across any novel plant or animal life in the Independent State of Caledon, or in the surrounding regions of Winterfell, Brythony, or Lovelace, please collect the following data:

• location
• time and time-of-day (e.g., dusk, mid-day, &c)
• description of surroundings
• effects on self or others (including physiologic effects of ingestion)

as well as some visual representation of your find (tintype, daguerreotype, cinematograph, Kirlian photogram, transmission electron photomicrograph, or what-have-you).

Please forward your findings to the Royal Society, via note-card addressed to yours truly. Discoveries will be posted (with due credit to the submitter) on the ætheric edition of the Proceedings of The Royal Society (http://ProcRoyalSoc.blogspot.com).
Please see the Caledon wiki for a collection of descriptions: http://www.caledonwiki.com/index.php?title=Shrooms .

Mr Drinkwater and I, and our learned colleagues, are greatly excited about this new era of promotion of the natural sciences – and equally excited to share the thrill of discovery with every Caledonian. Just think of it: might yours be the next discovery to make headlines?

With best wishes in your endeavours,
I remain,
Yours sincerely,

Kate Nicholas, FRS

A biologic and geologic survey of Saint Kitt Islands.

Krogstad A, Nicholas K.
A biologic and geologic survey of Saint Kitt Islands.
Proc Royal Soc 1898 ; 5.
The Royal Society for the Advancement of Knowledge in the Natural Sciences, Tamrannoch, Caledon.


Introduction
Saint Kitt Islands is a newly-discovered crown colony of the Independent State of Caledon. The area is composed of a volcanic crater and surrounding atoll, and comprises approximately 65,000 square metres (16 acres, or 0.025 square miles) of land and surrounding sea. Despite its relatively close geographic proximity to Caledon proper, its climate and indigenous plant life is quite distinct from that of the Independent State. In this paper we present the initial descriptions of the island and its biology.

Methods
The islands were surveyed by the authors on 11 and 12 May, 1898, funded by an unrestricted grant from the Royal Society for the Advancement of Knowledge in the Natural Sciences. One of the authors (AK) obtained oceanographic information to include sea bed depth, water temperature, currents, and a biologic survey. The other author (KN) was responsible for the geophysical data collection (AK performed the volcanic crater survey). Both authors participated in cataloguing the land-based biodiversity

Geography
The atoll itself is 146 metres in maximum north-south dimension, and 100m east-west. The topology is irregular, however, and gives a maximum contiguous straight-line distance (“widest point”) of 142m north-south and 56m east-west. The mean elevation is 2m above sea level at the beachfront. The mountain range running north-south in the atoll is at 11m for the southern-most plateau. Three peaks make up the mountain range proper: 30m at the southern peak, 28m at the centre, and 30m at the northern peak. The peaks are of igneous rock, with lower elevations (i.e. within 5m of sea level) covered in sandy soil and vegetation.



The volcano lies across the atoll to the east, and measures approximately 65 metres in diameter. Maximum elevations are as follows: 32m north rim, 31m southern rim, and 47-50m eastern rim. The rim measures approximately 55m in diameter north-south, and 36m east-west. The crater floor is 20m below sea level, and the cauldron is flooded to sea level. The crater itself is devoid of contents. No lava tunnels or other structures were identified.

The sea depth is -11m in the atoll, near the boat mooring, and -13m elsewhere. The sea bed appears to be uniformly sand, with little ejecta field, lava flows, or other evidence of recent volcanic activity.



In general, the surface conditions are those expected for a volcanic island. The exposed rock is igneous, and the soil is sandy, though rich enough to support vegetation. Sand is the typical pumice-based variety, and is uniformly fine, without larger elements of lava fragments.
Despite the relatively close geographic proximity to Caledon, the climate is an oceanic climate in the Köppen climate classification scheme. Winds appear to move west-to-east, though there is considerable surface-level variability. The day-night cycle is the same as in Caledon. Seismic activity was monitored; those data will be published at a later date.

Biology
For a young island, plant biodiversity is greatly important in establishing the biome. On Saint Kitt, two species of palm trees (Arecaceae spp.) and plumeria (Plumeria rubra) are found on the flat coastal regions, facing the atoll. No grasses or flowers were found. The usual ground cover was evident up to 5m or so above sea level, then giving way to igneous rock.

No terrestrial or aquatic animal species were noted despite extensive observations. No bird life was sighted.

Conclusions
Saint Kitt Islands were formed from volcanic activity resulting in an island and atoll. The weathering patterns on the volcano itself suggest a young age, perhaps under 50 years. Seismic activity predicts potential surrounding activity, consistent with known patterns of island-building volcanic activity. Seawater temperatures surrounding the island (unpublished data) point towards other submarine volcanic activity in the area. Further geophysical studies will be required to determine the amount and extent of landmass building that has occurred in the region.

Despite a tropical climate and the amount of plant biodiversity, there is a lack of animal species. This corroborates the geologic weathering-based age of the island, favouring a young landmass. Care must be taken not to introduce foreign plant or animal species if the original species are to be conserved. Caution is also advised regarding wide-scale tourist activity, as the native biome has a potential for serious disruption if faced with unchecked human intervention.

Saint Kitt Islands represent a major find for biologists, geophysicists, vulcanologists, and conservationists. Ongoing investigations would be expected to provide a wealth of information in those fields.