1*9 lo- Review, 



REVIEW. 



A GUIDE TO FUNGI. 



Fung^l and liow to know them ; an introduction to Field 

 IVIycoIogy. By K. W, Swanton. Pp. xii, and 210, 16 coloured and 

 32 black and white plates by M, K. Spittal. L,oudon : Methuen and 

 Co., 1909. Price 6i-, 



With the flowing tide of popular books on natural history subjects 

 arising from the recent development of the " Nature Study" movement 

 comes the present volume to supply a *' long felt want." As the author 

 points out in his preface, the study of common wild flowering plants has 

 perhaps been given an undue importance in present day schemes of 

 nature study to the detriment of most of the other groups of plants. 

 With the appearance of the present book, however, which is intended to 

 serve as an introduction to the larger standard w^orks on the fungi, no 

 excuse can exist for further neglecting the study of this interesting group. 



The first part of the book deals, in six chapters, with generalities, 

 such as details of structure and development, spore dispersal, habitats, 

 saprophytes and parasites, economic and edible species, and gives hints 

 on collecting, exhibiting, and preserving fungi. A short bibliography 

 follows, and then a much needed glossary of the technical terms used 

 in Part II. This second part, which occupies about three-quarters of 

 the book, is devoted to the classification and description of those "larger 

 fungi " belonging to the Basidiomycetes and the Ascomycetes, which are 

 for the most part common in the British Islands. Perhaps the most 

 pleasing feature of the book from the beginner's point of view is the 

 wealth of good illustrations, many of them being coloured, and most of 

 them drawn by Miss M. K. Spittal. With the aid of these and the clear 

 descriptions given it should be possible for the serious student to attain 

 in a short time that degree of expertness by which he would find that 

 it is (in the author's words) '• no more difficult to identify a fungus than it 

 is to diagnose a flower." Excellent as the plates are, however, a serious 

 inconvenience, which could easily have been avoided, exists in the fact 

 that the explanations of them are printed on the back ot each, necessi- 

 tating a constant irritating lurning forwards and backwards. It is also 

 unfortunate that the names of authors are everywhere omitted after the 

 species, as the book thereb}- loses much of its scientific value, and there 

 is no reason why even a beginner should not learn to give his specimens 

 the full and correct names from the start. A tendency on the part of the 

 author is noticeable in the opening chapters to regard the fructification 

 of the fungus as the fungus itself. Thus to take one instance only out 

 of several, he states . . . . " the activity of the mycelium is con- 

 fined to a certain period. If the fungus is not produced during that 



time," &c meaning if the " fructification of the fungus " is 



not produced, &c. There are some other points in the book on which 



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