Z PREFACR. 



plates, illustrating 378 species, with v.arieties, leaving only about 

 twenty-six species in this section, which have been recorded as 

 British, without figures, including some very doubtful ones. It 

 is probable that some of these may yet be obtained and figured as 

 an appendix. 



It is intended to proceed forthwith with the publication of 

 " Illustrations " of the remaining sections of Agaricus, which it is 

 estimated will occupy two volumes, including about the same 

 number of plates as the two volumes jilst concluded. 



Up to this point it is considered that the " Illustrations " will 

 compare favourably in number with any work hitherto published. 

 Sowerby figured only 165 species of Agaricini, of all kinds; 

 Hussey, 80 ; Bolton, 108 ; Bulliard, 287 ; Krombholz, 230 ; and 

 Fries' "Icones " includes 209 species of the Zeucospon, so that 

 already a larger number of white-spored Agarics have been 

 figured herein than all the gill-bearing Fungi in Sowerby, Hussey, 

 and Bolton together, or than were contained in the large work by 

 Krombholz. Although this may fairly claim to be a national 

 work, it is remarkable that less than seventy of the inhabitants of 

 the British islands contribute, as subscribers, to its success, and 

 its very existence is consequently dependent upon foreign support. 



As to execution, an interested party is not a fitting judge. It 

 may be confessed that all the figures are not of equal excellence, 

 but the printer has spared no effort in his endeavours to give sat- 

 isfaction, yet, when once printed, it is difficult to make corrections, 

 and delicate tones of colour are often inappreciable, except to a 

 connoisseur. It should also be remembered, that it is not the 

 typical form of a species which is always to be found in a given 

 locality, and however truly our figures may represent what we have 

 seen, it does not follow, as a matter of course, that they will 



