113 
o far as man is concerned, the edible fungi belong to one of 
the two large groups, the basidiomycetes and the ascomycetes. 
The fungi most frequently collected for culin ay. purposes belong 
to the former and I mushroom, 
Agaricus campestris; the shaggy mane, Coprinus comatus; the 
beef steak fungus, Fistulina hepatica; and the common puffballs, 
_ this big of fungus, probably the chief of aoa at the 
cted 
and consequently oa to the ‘nepal eater. 
he second large gr the 
most valuable edible ts but are ach less ee en- 
t 
which naturally on account of their subterranean habits are 
seldom seen except by those who find them by accident or who 
search for tl wit id of trained animals, pigs or dogs. 
he: the ai 
This group has been discussed in an earlier number of the 
JOURNAL, 
A number of the cup-fungi while perhaps less valuable than 
of diet. The ae oD: -fungi are again divided into two 
groups, th d the true cup-fungus, so named because 
the form of the ie ting bodies which are often decidedly 
The for: 
and Helvella or Gyromitra, this type of fungus being p 
with a stem and head or cap. Of these, Morchella esoulenie 
(plate 274) is the commonest and most widely use 
the common morel and on account of the numerous pits in t a 
it often occurs a month earlier. Of twenty three specimens 
examined in our collections, nineteen lected in the m 
*Journal of the New York Botanical Garden 19: 307. 1918. 
