The Earlier Study of Fungi in Britain. David Paul. 95 



through the greater part of Britain, as well as the Low Countries, 

 Germany, Italy and France, and embodying his researches in 

 his great work, Historia Generalis Planiarum, first issued in 

 16S6. It was impossible for a man of his acute mind to neglect 

 Fun^i, though he threw his strength into the Phanerogams. 

 In his Synopsis methodica we find the first classification of them 

 in the English language which is of any interest. He divides 

 them into five classes: 



I. — Fungi with both pilcus and gills — of which he describes 

 57 including Lactarii and Cantharcllus. 



II. — Fungi with a pileus but no gills, such as the Boleti and 

 Phallus — 17 described. 



III. — Fungi without a pileus. Twenty-two species of these 

 are described, and he divides them into three groups. The 

 first group he calls Fungoides, and defines the term as a fungus 

 without a pileus, whose stems are variously shaped and divided 

 but whose substance is uniform and is destitute of gills or 

 pores. As examples Xylaria polymorpha and X. hypoxylon 

 are given. The second group under this head is Pezizae, of 

 which he gives 22, including among them the Jew's ear. The 

 third group is Agaricus, a term used by him in its old sense, 

 and defined by him as a "fungus which has neither pileus nor 

 stem, and generally grows laterally and horizontally on trees, 

 sometimes smooth beneath, but for the most part with the 

 under surface divided into gills or pores." Of these he describes 

 28, and among them what he calls Agaricus intybaceus and 

 A. igniarius. He would include, in addition to the stemless 

 Polypori, such Fungi as Pleurotus, Crepidotus, etc. 



IV. — Fungi pulverulenti. "Puff-balls; dusty mushrooms; 

 Bull-fists." He describes 13, including Ly coper don giganteum 

 and Geastcr. 



v. — Fungi subterranei. All underground Fungi, e.g. Truffles. 



It will be noted that, however imperfect, this is still a classi- 

 fication. It is a groping after an orderly arrangement, and is 

 distinctly superior to anything we have yet met with. Ray 

 had evidently been giving Fungi considerable attention, for in 

 each successive work of his there is an advance. In his 

 CafalogusPlanfari{m{i6yy) about 25 Fungi are given but without 

 any order or classification at all. In his Historia Plant arum 

 (1686) he divides them into four classes: (i) Terrestrial Fungi, 

 with pileus and gills, which are subdivided into the old groups 

 of edible and noxious ; (2) Terrestrial Fungi without gills, but 

 having a more or less distinct pileus ; (3) Fungi of every kind 

 that grow on trees ; (4) Underground Fungi. This is a much 

 poorer classification than that of the Synopsis which has been 

 already given. In it the foolish distinction between edible 



