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to say whether we have before us a Lepiota or a Paalliota— a difficulty which 

 has often puzzled the writer of this notice, in the course of describing a very 

 large exotic collection of debateable species ; and though the dried specimens 

 were in almost every case accompanied by exquisite drawings, there was still 

 room for frequent doubt. 



" In every arrangement there will be anomalies. If we take the free gill 

 as a characteristic of Lepiota, we shall not be long before we have species before 

 us in which the gills are neither remote nor approximate, but decidedly attached 

 to the stem, and this is still more evident in Amanita, where there are few 

 species with really free gills, as in Volvaria and Pluteus. The same difficulty 

 occurs in deciding whether the gills are truly decurrent in several cases, and 

 we are, therefore, sorry that subgenera resting on such very slight characters 

 as Tubaria and Deconica should have been proposed. A. furfuraceus is one of the 

 most variable of Fungi, and almost every fo.m of attachment may be found. 

 After all, such species as A. vulgaris, camptophyllus, &c, are left in Mycena, 

 where the gills are quite as decurrent as in either of the above-mentioned 

 subgenera. "We have no objection to the separation of Agarkus variabilis with 

 its two close allies, but the slight tint in A. euosmos is not sufficient to sepa- 

 rate it subgenerically from A. ostreatus, and it has clearly no affinity with A. 

 variabilis. We cannot assent to the separation of A. cretaceus from Psalliota, 

 though we may approve of the keeping such abnormal species as A. fumoso- 

 purpureus and A. echinatus district, though they seem to connect Lepiota with 

 Psalliota. 



" If the colour of the spores is to b» all in all, we must begin to cut up 

 Hygrophorus and Lactarius, which could scarcely be done with advantage. 



"These observations may wear a rather conservative appearance, but 

 in truth the reform requires to be much deeper ; the Friesian system, excellen 

 as it is, and far superior, in our judgment, to every other, will undoubtedly some 

 day require considerable modification, though we believe that it will always re- 

 main as the groundwork on which any satisfactory arrangement can be built 

 A. corticola revives after a shower of rain as readily as a Marasmius, and yet 

 no one would think of turning it out of Mycena, and we could point out many 

 other anomalies. The subgenus Hiatula seems to have escaped Mr. Smith's 

 notice, though possibly that, and one or two other Agaricoid subgenera, are 

 neglected as being entirely exotic, though on the same ground Pilosace might 

 have been excluded. 



"Mr. Smith has appended a list of the British species, amounting to 701, 

 which will undoubtedly be considerably increased. We cannot conclude this 

 notice without expressing our admiration of the energy which the author of 

 this little publication is continually exerting in a subject which is of daily 

 increasing importance." 



The following answer has been made by Mr. Worthington Smith to the 

 observations of Professor Fries and tbe Kev. M. J. Berkeley : — 



