1861.] iiEViEws. 89 



word " Fungoloyy," used in the title of the book^ and defends it 

 ou the ground of its being very generally received. Certainly 

 Mycology is the more correct term, but perhaps it does not con- 

 vey the meaning of the subject-matter to the general reader so 

 well as the more spurious one of Faagology . 



After several chapters of " introductory matter/^ in which we 

 think he rather takes it too much for granted that his readers 

 already know something of the subject, but which are full of in- 

 teresting facts and observations, our author goes on to give a 

 complete list of British Fungi, including all the discoveries that 

 have taken place since the publication of the ' English Flora,' 

 and which are numerous. Greater attention is of course paid to 

 the larger and more conspicuous Fungi, as the genera Agaricus, 

 Polyporus, etc. etc., and by far the greater part of the volume 

 is taken up in the description of these; while of the smaller 

 Fungi a mere list, without the specific character, is given. In a 

 popular work, as this undoubtedly is, it was probably prudent to 

 confine the attention principally to the more showy and notice- 

 able species ; but we could have wished that the reader's atten- 

 tion had been more particularly directed to the many microscopic 

 beauties which lie hid in many of the smaller kinds, as, for in- 

 stance, in the numerous and various species of Sph(2ri(B with 

 which almost every dead or decaying brauch is covered, and the 

 sporidia of which assume the most varied and curious forms. 



The 'Epicrisis' of Fries, which was published subsequent to 

 the appearance of the ' English Flora,' has (as was to be expected) 

 been taken as the basis of the arrangement of the Hymenomy- 

 cetous Fungi. Assuredly that work is a wonderful production ; 

 but we cannot help thinking that the distinctions of Fries are 

 sometimes too refined and delicate for practical purposes. Mr. 

 Berkeley well remarks, in his preface, that " few exercises of the 

 mental powers can be more improving than the study of such a 

 genus as Agaricus •" for the subdivisions are so many, and the 

 distinctions so nice and subtle, that it requires considerable exer- 

 cise, both of memory and judgment, to assign to any particular 

 plant even the precise subdivision to which it belongs. And the 

 same remark applies to other large genera. 



The old genus Agaricus is now divided into upwards of a dozen ' 

 distinct (though not very diflerent) genera, and even the re- 

 stricted genus Agaricus is subjected to many subdivisions. 



N. S. VOL. V. N 



