476 
subject here set forth. Previous American booklets, reports, etc., 
bearing on this subject have been less extensive, complete and 
satisfactory, yet they have been, as it were, skirmish lines that 
have made this.one possible. It contains 337 pages, and, accord- 
ing to the title page, 30 colored plates and 57 other illustrations 
The full-page plates are 38. An “Introduction” of 40 pages is 
no less interesting and important than the body of the work, 
which is devoted to the descriptions and illustrations of about 30 
edible and a half dozen or more poisonous or suspected species. 
The descriptions are given in a general or popular style, followed 
in each case by a more condensed and systematized one, but in 
both all unnecessary technical terms are avoided, inasmuch as the 
work is especially designed for those who simply desire a better 
acquaintance with our most common and easily-recognized escu- 
lent species, so that they may feel safe in collecting and using 
them for food. Great care has been taken in placing safeguards 
around the genus Amanita that there might be no danger of an 
invasion of its dangerous precincts. Indeed, as a concession to 
the ignorance or carelessnes of such as might otherwise make 
serious mistakes, this line of safety has confessedly been drawn so 
rigidly as to exclude from use even some well-known edible species. 
Nevertheless, the author has done well in showing the worthless- 
ness of many popular rules and tests for discriminating between 
the good and the bad, and in insisting upon a sufficient knowledge 
for the recognition of each species to be eaten, save in a few ex- 
ceptional genera. 
The work is enriched by a list of the edible fungi of North Car- 
olina, taken from the catalogue of Rev. M. A. Curtis, by a history 
of asuccessful use of atropine, the antidote of amanitine, in a case 
of dangerous mushroom poisoning, by a series of thirty-four re- 
cipes for preparing, cooking or preserving mushrooms, and by 
three pages of bibliography pertaining to the subject. Marginal 
indices and a general index at the end of the volume facilitate 
reference to any subject. 
In a work so full of good things and so generally accurate and 
reliable as this is, one feels like uttering only words of praise and 
commendation and passing in silence the very few mistakes that 
might by a critical mind be taken as blemishes. Happily those 
