PREFACE. 



The object of this Work is to furnish materials for the correct 

 determination of the larger British Fungi, and such only as re- 

 quire nothing more than a common lens for their examination. 

 In consequence, all microscopic details have, as far as it Avas 

 possible, been avoided, though to meet the wishes of several 

 scientific friends, a complete list of the more minute species 

 is appended, together with references by which the places in 

 which those species which have been determined as British 

 since the publication of the ' English Flora,' are recorded or 

 described, may be readily found. A Glossary of the less 

 familiar terras, and a list of most of the authors referred to 

 in the descriptive part, have been added, in the hope that 

 they may prove useful to students. 



Those persons who may wish hereafter to extend their re- 

 searches, will find that they have made a good beginning by 

 the study of the larger species, the determination of which, 

 properly conducted, will prepare them for a much more correct 

 appreciation of the limits within which the more obscure 

 Fungi are comprised. The contrary practice of empirically 



