4 INTRODUCTION. 



creation are despised ; the}^ are even called by unappropriate 

 names, such as " bad man's bread, woodwitch, devil's snuff- 

 box, toadstool," etc. And those who take an interest in them 

 are ridiculed as " non compos mentis," to spend time on such 

 foolishness. 



I have made fungi a special study for at least twenty years, 

 and never was sorry for all the time spent. It afforded me 

 many an hour of happiness during my leisure hours. Often 

 when I would have a spell of " taedium vitse," I would seek 

 to the forests and green meadows for specimens, and before I 

 knew I could exclaim : "This life is worth living after all," 

 or exclaim with Prof. Henry Willey, in his "Instruction to 

 the Study of Lichen": 



" If I could put m}' woods in song, 



And tell what's there enjoyed, 

 All men would to my garden throng, 



And leave the cities void. 

 In my lot no tulips blow ; 



Snow-loving pines and oaks instead ; 

 And rank the savage maple grow, 



From Spring's first flush to Autumn red, 

 My garden is a forest ledge. 



Which older forest bound." 



It is a curious fact that ministers of the Gospel took such an 

 interest in the study. I have three works on my bookshelf 

 on fungi of which the authors are ministers of the Gospel : 

 Rev. John Stephenson, of Glanus, England ; Rev. M. J. 

 Berkley, of England ; Rev. Lewis Schweinitz, of Bethlehem. 



It brings you in contact and correspondence with great and 

 good men — who are similarly inclined. It brings you back to 

 those good men who studied the subject years ago, as 

 Muhlenberg, Linneus, Fries, and Schweinitz — all good and 

 pious men. 



It has often been alleged that the study of fungi has but 

 few attractions, and cannot compete in interest with the study 



