( )clubcr, li)07j Mycolugical Bulletin No. 82. ntj:! 



at Paris as a great rarity. It is called in France "Polystictns simulans, 

 Blonski." 



"ScHizoPHYLLUM coALMUNE. — A vcrv comnion species all over the world 

 and in every country, hot and cold, where 1 have ever been. At Cincin- 

 nati it has a special liking for the maple. It has been known as '■commune" 

 lor two generations, but recent date dictionary investigatfjrs have called it 

 Schizophyllum alneum, in my opinion a stupid change for a plant thas is 

 the most coiiniioii species, that occurs everywhere, and grows in many 

 cimntries and thousands of localities where alder does not grow. 



THE ^lYCOLOGICAL SITUATION IX AAIh:RIC.\. 



"T ha\e to write so man\' letters to my correspondents in rei)ly to in 

 (iniries as to what literature to buy in order to study mycology thai I feel 

 it will save time to issue a printed letter on the subject. 



"Unfortunately there is no one book of much service. I always advise 

 n.y correspondents to first buy Atkinson's "Mushrooms, Edible, Poisonous, 

 etc." It is the best book we have. It is only a primer and does not 

 consider one of twenty of the agarics you will meet every season, but yoi 

 can derive from it a general idea of classification. I believe he should 

 have all praise for what h.e has done, n<:)t hiding the fact that there is a 

 great deal of room to do much better as he learns more of the subject. 



"The ne.\t hook of serxice is Miss Marshall's "Mushroom Book." 

 cbiellx- on account of the pictures which are much better than the te.\t. 

 Like the preceding it is purely elementary and considers only a few com- 

 mon species. 



'"Dr. Herbst's 'Fungal Flora of the Lehigh Valley,' Pennsylvania, is a 

 \ery useful book because it considers many common plants that every one 

 will meet. Unfortunately the illustrations are very poor. 



"When you have begun to get an insight into the genera, buy Steven 

 son's 'British Fungi.' It is chiefly a translation of I'ries, but it is all the 

 more valuable on that account. Fries was the great master of agarics in 

 luirope, and universally held to be the best attthority, but his writings are 

 in Latin, and while they are court of final resort, you will not need them 

 until you reach the 'new species' stage. 



"Massee's 'British l*\mgus Flora," four volumes, is the latest English 

 work and is largely used in England. The arrangement of the genera de- 

 parts from all other works and it is so diflkult to find anything in it that 

 I rarely use it. It always reminds me of a house 1 saw on the Midway 

 where everything was upside down. 



"The fungi of Europe and America are for the most i)art the same 

 species, and thus any luirojiean work will be of serxice in .\merica. It is 

 my lirm belief that the greater jiarl of the plants in .\merica that have 

 been described as new species, are luiropean plants not recognized. Fail- 

 ure to identify the .American plants from the conllicting accounts and illus- 

 trations that have been given of them in Europe is to no man's discredit. 

 To reach conclusions when working with agarics in Europe is a task difli- 

 eult enough; in America it is impossible. If American mycologists had 

 any practical way of learning the .American names for the agarics they 

 meet it would be a great help. 



"It is my experience in .America that about two out of three plants one 

 meets agree with the descriptions just enough so that one thinks it may 

 he the species, and differ just enough so that one doubts it. So that you 

 are in a more uncertain position when you finish your determination than 

 when you began it. This is the fault of the way in which the matter is 

 presented. Professor Peck knows the New York plants and could write 

 systoualic work, presenting the plants by i\>iitrast and pointing out the 



