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Our final note must relate to the general classification of the genus. Ad- 

 mitting something like 100 species into the fraternity, it is evident that an order 

 of grouping must be adopted for facility of reference and determination. Fries 

 attempted this by the recognition of five tribes, and no one has ventured to super- 

 sede them. Take them for all in all, we do not think, with our present knowledge, 

 that any better can be offered ; at any rate, no better arrangement has been pro- 

 posed. The Cnmpactcc is the first, and at the same time the most perfect, of the 

 five groups or tribes. This requires no comment. The second, or Furcata:, seems 

 at certain points to melt into the fourth, or HcterophylUe. It requires consider- 

 able care sometimes to put them, in practice. The third, or Rigidoe, should be, and 

 we think is, a natural and satisfactory tribe, although not a large one. Whilst the 

 last, or Fragiles, if strictly maintained within the limits of the diagnosis, is a good 

 workable tribe, although we fail to see a good reason for two groups of the yellow- 

 spored forms when one group would answer the purpose. The same division of 

 yellow-spored from white-spored pieces would be advisable in all the other tribes. 

 A further subdivision of each section, according to some prominent feature, so as 

 to reduce the size of each final group to some six or ten species, would probably be 

 the most complete classification, and the most workable one that could be pro- 

 posed. This is the only direction in which we imagine that any reform in the 

 classification could be taken. 



Some there are who have been rash enough to suggest the amalgamation of 

 Lactarius and Russula in one large genus. These enthusiasts could hardly be 

 practical men, or they would know that in proportion as you diminish, and not 

 increase the size of the genus— all other conditions being equal — so do you facilitate 

 its comprehension, and render it more practically applicable. Requiescat in pace. 



