<lo with it. While I am not authoritatively informed as to. any 

 of the others, I doubt if there is any mycologist of standing in 

 Europe -or America either who really thinks that anything but a row 

 is ever accomplished by "laws" in Botany. The last circular (No. 5) 

 that was issued by the agitation committee whose object is to make 

 "laws," complained of a general apathy on the subject. The entire 

 circular is a pitiful appeal for somebody to take an interest in it. 

 Botanists in general are weary of the never ending and useless "law- 

 making," and at the present writing the prospects are that the next 

 "International Law Congress" will be an international fizzle. As a 

 Frenchman 'would say, "Tant mieux." 



A SUGGESTION. Why would it not be a good idea to put the "name 

 of the namer" after geographical names as well as botanical names. Some 

 ambiguity might be avoided by it. Thus, Saccardo would not have referred 

 Fomes superpositus to "New England, Amer. bor." if there had been added 

 to the Australian New England the name of some pioneer Australian explorer. 

 Nor the South African Broomeia congregata to "Albany, Amer. Bor." if the 

 South African Albany had attached to it the name of some celebrated lion 

 hunter. 



STEREUM VERSICOLOR. We all know the plant called, in American 

 mycology, Stereum versicolor. It was so called by Berkeley and also by Ellis. 

 Professor Burt told me he had not found the type which was collected by 

 Swartz in Jamaica and published in 1788. He calls the plant Stereum fasciatum, 

 Schweinitz. The type of Stereum versicolor is at the British Museum, but 

 is not our American plant. It has a smooth, striated pileus, not tomentose 

 as our plant. I think we shall have to call our plant Stereum fasciatum. It 

 probably has a European nanie, however, as it grows in Northern Europe. 



PROFESSOR HARD'S BOOK. 



I presume the mycologists of the United States are now mostly 

 familiar with Professor M. E. Hard's book, "Mushrooms, edible and 

 otherwise." It was probably issued last year, but as I (in Europe) am 

 not in touch with matters mycological in America, I only learned a 

 few weeks ago that the book was out, and sent for a copy. I can not 

 say that I was surprised when I received it to find that \ve at last 

 have a good, popular work on common fungi, as I had seen the manu- 

 script and knew it was going to be a good book if the printers did their 

 part. I think they have done very well. 



The important feature of Professor Hard's book is that it is prac- 

 tical. The beginner, the student, can take the book and go into the 

 fields and woods and identify a large part of the fungi he finds. It 

 will be a constant source of inspiration to the woods lover to have a 

 book in which he can look up the pictures and get some idea of the 

 curious growths he meets on every hand. Twelve or fifteen years 

 ago when I began work on the subject there was nothing of the kind 

 in America. All that we had were Peck's Reports, of very little serv- 



429 



