Introduction 



literature in which alone, as things are at present, can be found the in- 

 formation he seeks. In this book I have tried to meet this need. It is 

 not complete, but I have tried to so arrange the matter that the student 

 can always decide whether the particular specimen in hand is or is not 

 included, and, at least for all of our more conspicuous fungi, determine 

 the family and genus. If the student can do so much, the task of find- 

 ing the specific name, even when not included in this book, becomes 

 very much simpler. 



So much for the more scientific aspect of my book. But I have 

 also kept in constant view the needs of the large and constantly growing 

 number of persons who have no aim further than to learn to know the 

 principal toadstools seen in their walks, just as they wish to know the 

 principal trees and the more conspicuous birds. For such as these, the 

 difficulty of deciding whether or no a particular individual fungus is 

 described in the brief (sketching) manuals hitherto accessible is even 

 more formidable than with the special student of botany. 



Finally, I have kept in view throughout the work the needs of the 

 mycophagists. They are not pot-hunters; they care much less for the 

 physical pleasure of the appetite than for the close study of Nature 

 that their inclination leads them into. Some day the delights of a 

 mushroom hunt along lush pastures and rich woodlands will take the 

 rank of the gentlest craft among those of hunting, and may perchance 

 find its own Izaak Walton. 



AUTHOR'S AND PUBLISHER'S NOTE. 



It is the intention of the author and the publisher to keep this book 

 up to date. Recognizing that future testing will prove many more 

 species of toadstools to be edible, and that scientists will have more 

 exact knowledge of toadstool poisons and their antidotes, they announce 

 that illustrated sheets publishing new edible species and current informa- 

 tion upon fungi will be, from time to time, issued, conforming in shape 

 and style to this volume and at an acceptable price. 



That the author and publishers may keep in touch with the owner of 

 each volume, and be informed of new discoveries in species and of new 

 experience, owners are requested to communicate their book numbers 

 to Captain Charles Mcllvaine, or the Bobbs-Merrill Co., Indianapolis. 



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