INTKODUCTION. 



In the year 187G, as Microscopist of the Departmeut of Ajj^riculture, I 

 prepared, as a part of the exhibit of my Division at the Centennial Ex- 

 hibition at Phihulolphia, a large collection of water-color drawings rep- 

 resenting leading types of the edible and poisonous mnshrooms of the 

 United States, together with representations of about nine hundred species 

 of microscopic fungi detrimental to vegetation. 



In the preparation of the first collection I had the valuable assistance 

 of Prof. Charles H. Peck, State Botanist of New York, and in the second 

 the hearty co-operation of Rev. M. J. Berkeley and Dr. M. C. Cook, the 

 eminent British mycologists. 



The popular character of this exhibit attracted the attention of the 

 general pulilic, and many letters were received at the Department show- 

 ing an awakening interest in the study of fungi, particularly with regard 

 to the mushroom family, as to methods of cultivation, the means of de- 

 termining the good from the unwholesome varieties, etc. 



My first published paper on the subject of edible mushrooms, entitled 

 " Twelve Edible Mushrooms of the U. S.," appeared in the annual' report 

 of the Department of Agriculture for 1885. This was followed by others 

 to the number of five, and as the demand for these reports increased, 

 reprints were made and issued, by order of the Secretary of Agriculture, 

 in pamphlet form, under the general title of " Food Products.'' Numerous 

 editions of these reprints were issued by the Department up to 1894. 

 During the year 1894, and the first half of 1895, 36,600 of these reports 

 were sent out by the Department, and the supply was exhausted. They 

 have been out of print for more than two years. It is in view of this fact, 

 and in response to a great and constant demand for these publications, 

 that I have undertaken to publish a series of five pamphlets on the edible 

 and poisonous mushrooms of the United States, which shall embody the 

 substance of the five pamphlets on " Food Products '' above alluded to, 

 supplemented by new matter relating to classification, general and specific, 

 analytical tables of standard authors, and a continuation of the chapters 

 on structure, etc. Additional plates, representing leading types of edible 

 and poisonous mushrooms, will also be inserted in each number. 



In the compilation and extension of this work I have the assistance 

 of my daughter. Miss A. Robena Taylor, who has given considerable 

 attention to the study of fungi, and who has been my faithful coadjutor 

 in the work of collecting specimens, etc., for a number of years. 



For valuable suggestions as to structural characteristics and methods 

 of classification I am especially indebted to Prof. Chas. H. Peck, of 

 Albany, New York, Dr. M. C. Cooke, of England, and Prof. P. A. 

 Saccardo, of Italy. 



The colored plates in pamphlet No. 1, together with a few of those which 

 will appear in the succeeding numbers of this series, are reproductions of 

 those prepared, under my direct supervision, for the pamphlets entitled 

 " Food Products "' published by the Department of Agriculture and re- 

 ferred to above. 



THOMAS TAYLOR, M. D. 



May 7, 1897. 



