o REVIEWS. 



of the species of each genus, and references to the places where the 

 species are described. This list is of great utility, inasmuch as the 

 latest systematic account of British Fungi is dated in ] 832, being com- 

 prised in the second part of the fifth volume of Sir E. Smith's " English 

 Flora." Since 1832, vast numbers of species, new to this country, many 

 of them also new to science, have been discovered and described ; but 

 the student in search of them was driven to a roving expedition through 

 the successive volumes of the " Annals of Natural History," and of one 

 or two other works, before these additioual species could be ascertained. 

 By the references given in Mr. Berkeley's book, taken in connexion with 

 the explanation at page 305, which we think would have been better 

 placed in the Preface, or in one of the early chapters, any species may 

 now be readily referred to. 



The book is divisible into two parts, viz., the introductory portion, 

 consisting of 13 chapters, and the systematic arrangement. The former 

 part contains a concise account of the different divisions of the whole 

 tribe, as well as of the nature and habitats of Fungi in general, and their 

 geographical distribution. This is followed by an account of their 

 mode of growth, structure, and method of propagation, as well as of the 

 variations of form which they assume. The uses of Fungi, and the dis- 

 eases caused by them, are then described ; and some remarks are added, 

 showing what has been done with regard to their cultivation, and the 

 manner in which they should be collected and preserved. The whole 

 of this introductory matter is admirably adapted for guiding the student, 

 who will give his energies to the subject, to an acquaintance with this 

 most interesting branch of botanical science. 



The work being professedly intended for popular use, any lengthened 

 discussion of intricate mycological questions would have been out of 

 place ; but one or two such questions come to the surface here and there, 

 upon which we have a few comments to offer. 



In speaking of the genus Boletus, the author refers to the singular 

 fact of the instantaneous change which takes place in the colour of the 

 flesh, when broken, from white or yellow to dark blue ; and he adds 

 that this change, after being long a source of perplexity, is now known 

 to depend upon the action of ozone upon the juices. Mr. Berkeley seems 

 to adopt the opinion of M. Schoenbein,* who examined the question in 

 1856, with reference to B. luridus. Schoenbein discovered a resinous 

 matter like guaiacum, which, like that substance, turned blue when in 

 contact with ozone. Since that time, it has been thought that Schoen- 

 bein' s investigations have not exhausted the subject; and the Belgian 

 Academy lately proposed the following question for a prize essay : — 

 " Determiner par des recherches a la fois anatomiques et chimiques, la 

 cause des changements de couleur que subit la chair des bolets en 

 general, et de plusieurs russules quand on la brise on qu' on la com- 

 prime." M. Kickz, one of the referees, in a report made to the Aca- 



* Uebor die nachste Ursache der spontanen Blaiiung ciniger Pilze. Munchen, 1856. 



