94 Rhodora [Mav 
years ago to its present number of nearly five hundred, and also by 
the formation of similar societies in other parts of the country. 
The aims of the Club, well set forth in the following extract from 
the constitution, are these: zz To study edible mushrooms and toad- 
stools and those noxious and poisonous kinds which might be mistaken 
for them, to collect and spread all valuable information concerning them, 
to arouse interest in mushrooms as food, and by exhibitions, lectures, 
and publications to make easy and certain the recognition of the few 
fungi that are poisonous and of the many that are edible." 
Of the means toward these ends the exhibitions of fresh fungi are 
naturally the most important. On Saturdays, throughout the summer 
and autumn, fungi are brought to Horticultural Hall, where, through 
the courtesy of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, they are placed 
on exhibition for the benefit of the public. The specimens are ar- 
ranged by genera under cards on which generic characters are given, 
and, wherever possible, the specific names are also added together 
with information as to the quality as food. It is at the talks which 
follow these exhibitions, illustrated as they are by fresh material, that 
the most effective help is given. Special pains are taken to make all 
who attend these meetings acquainted, first of all, with the poisonous 
Amanitas, and to give emphasis to the fact that there is no short cut to 
the detection of poisonous forms, but that each individual specimen 
must be studied carefully and distinguished by characteristic marks. 
These demonstrations are so often repeated that those who attend the 
talks with any regularity can hardly escape instruction upon these vital 
points ; and it is safe to say that, as a result of the Club's efforts, hundreds 
of people now possess and are spreading this essential knowledge which 
a few years ago was the property of a very few. Supplementary to the 
Saturday meetings are the excursions which occur at intervals through 
the summer, whenever the weather gives promise of a successful trip. 
When the November frosts check the appearance of mushrooms in 
the fields and woods, methods of instruction are necessarily changed. 
Lantern slides, of which the Club has about three hundred, take the 
place of fresh plants to illustrate talks, which are given on the third 
Monday evening of each month from November to May in the lecture- 
room of the Boston Society of Natural History. 
From time to time throughout the year bulletins have been issued, 
the earlier of these giving hints as to methods of collecting, advice as 
to books, and remarks upon various elementary matters, very helpful to 
