2 GENERAL INTRODUCTION, 



the author accumulated a vast number of cuttings from news- 

 papers ou subjects connected with Fungi. They manifested an 

 inconceivable amount of ignorance, it is true, but it is evident they 

 may be regarded as evidencing an awakening of popular interest. 



' Since Dr. Badham published, in 1847, his famous treatise on 

 " The Esculent Funguses of England," there have appeared several 

 works of a similar kind, intended for popular use. But, for the 

 most part, they have added little to what Dr. Badham had ad- 

 vanced. English mycologists, among whom shine conspicuous the 

 names of Berkeley, Cooke, and Worthington Smith, have done 

 good work in foi'warding the botanical knowledge of Fungi, jiar- 

 ticularly in the microscopic dejDartments. But chemical investi- 

 gation and examination into the physiological properties of fungous 

 principles have been relegated almost entirely to the scientists of 

 other countries. This domain has had most attraction for the 

 present writer, and he has gathered into these pages such infor- 

 mation of the kind as he has been able to collect. It is probably 

 that part of the study of Fungi likely to be most popular, as being 

 of most practical service. 



■ ■ In this work the designation Mushroom is used in a wide generic 

 sense. It is intended to express any of the larger Fungi, in con- 

 tradistinction only to those small though numerous forms that 

 might similarly be broadly styled Moulds. Taken in this sense, 

 the word Mushroom is an equivalent for the French Champignon, 

 or for the Gex'man Pilze and Schwdmme. "We cannot very well 

 employ the word Fungus in this relation, because that title has a 

 wider signification. 



The classification follows the system propounded by the illus- 

 trious Swedish botanist Fries, which is now universally adopted. 

 Some trifling variations have been permitted, which will be re- 

 ferred to in their place. Details of information have been 

 gathered from a great variety of soui'ces, and, in the course of a 

 study necessarily of a practical kind, it may be that the author 

 will be found to have added something of his own. 



Some of the titles used in Mycology have a little etymological 

 interest. " Fungus " is a word found in Ovid, but seems to have 

 been the designation of a particular species. "Mushroom" has 

 been referred to various roots. The most probable seems to be 

 the Welsh, or old British, maes, a field, and rhum, a knob, from a 

 combination of which words it is said to have come, being originally 

 " mushrump," and then " mushx-oom." It is also said to have been 



