350 NOTICES OF BOOKS AND MEMOIRS. 



or extracts from it, or from the genus Rof^a, where most of the 

 almost innumerable names have been skilfully marshalled under 

 species and subspecies. 



This first part ends with the Fiosacew. With the next, which 

 will complete the Catycifloral Orders, there will be given some 

 introductory and explanatory matter. H. T. 



Claris Synoptica Hymenomycetum Eurojjccorum. By M. C. Cooke, 

 M.A., A.L.S., and L. Quelet, M.D., O.A., Inst, et Sorb. Laur. 



Without any mtroduction beyond the information conveyed by 

 the title-page Messrs. Cooke and Quelet have presented students 

 of Mycology with a Clavis of the European Hymenomycetes. 

 Though he is not told by the authors that any particular pro- 

 ficiency in the study is necessary for using the Clavis, trial of the 

 book will soon convince the student that a very intimate know- 

 ledge of the Hymenomycetes is the first thing required. At the 

 outset one looks in vain for any definition of the nature or hmits 

 of the Hymenomycetes, or of any of the orders or genera of that 

 group of Fungi ; and it is not until one arrives at the divisions 

 and subdivisions of the subgenera that an attempt at describing 

 the characters is found. The specific names are then given, fol- 

 lowed by the name (or its usual abbreviation) of the author, and 

 in most cases a reference to a figure in some well-known book ; the 

 species are then diagnosed very shortly. In the descriptions of 

 the species we find no mention of the usual size of the plant — in 

 many cases of quite as much use in identifying it as the frequently 

 changmg and varying colour, which is made one of the principal 

 specific characters throughout the book. In neglecting mention of 

 the microscopic characters of the species the authors are perhaps 

 justified, since the book is probably intended chiefly for the field.] 



After the genus Ayaricus, and again after the other genera of 

 the Ayaricini and the TJielephorei, there is a list headed " Species 

 Incertae " in the fii'st and last cases, and '* Species dubiae " in the 

 second. Out of the 53 uncertain species of Ayaricus given, 

 Dr. Bonorden seems to have recorded 29 ; and out of the 7 dubious 

 species of the other Ayaricini five, while Dr. Sauter is guilty of the 

 other two. The 6 uncertain species of the Thelephorei are divided 

 between those two gentlemen again — 3 each. Strangely, Dr. 

 onorden's 37 uncertahi and dubious species, and Dr. Sauter's 6, 

 were published in the same volume of ' Hedwigia ' (we are not 

 told, in the case of the Thelephorei, where they were pubhshed), 

 and on turning to that volume (xv) — quoted in two diflerent ways 

 by the authors — we find, in each case, detailed descriptions of the 

 plants, in most cases of greater length than is usual in descriptions 

 of Hymenomycetes. That more than half the uncertain and dubious 

 species of European Hymenennycetes should be recorded in one volume 

 of • Hedwigia,' and by one man, is no doubt sm-prising, but on what 

 grounds they are so considered Messrs. Cooke and Quelet have not 

 explained. 



The usefulness of the book is farther impaired by the want of 

 an index of the species. G. M. 



