5th March, A. D. 1896. 



ESSAY 



BY 



Dr. GEORGE E. FRANCIS, 



President Worcester Mycological Club. 

 Theme : — A Talk on MycoJogu. 



Illustrated by Stereopticon. 



The subject announced for this occasion accurately describes the 

 paper to which I ask your attention. In a " Talk on Mycology " it is 

 practicable to treat of any branch of the subject which may offer 

 interesting features, while you will not expect a vain attempt at a 

 general survey of that enormous division of the science of botany 

 which has to do with fungi. Such a general survey you may easily 

 get in any good cyclopedia, and particularly in the last edition of the 

 Encyclopedia Britannica. 



I have thought that this audience might like to hear a little about 

 the life and nature of fungi in general ; and rather more about those 

 larger representatives which we call JMushrooms and Toadstools, and 

 about the conspicuous varieties which we may expect to find in this 

 vicinity, and their good and bad qualities. And finally, it is my desire 

 to show some relations which the larger fungi have to practical horti- 

 culture, but not to discuss at any length the effects of moulds and 

 blights, concerning which you have already been told in the able 

 paper by Prof. Stone. 



Fungi are plants ; they belong to that great division of the vegetable 

 kingdom which does not bear llowers. Furthermore, fungi have no 

 green leaves, or anything corresponding to green leaves : in fact they 

 have 110 chlorophyll, which is the foundation of verdure ; and no 

 starch, which makes most other vegetable structures valuable for 

 food. 



Because they are not provided with chlorophyll, fungi cannot 

 obtain carbon from the atmosphere like all plants which have green 



