November 23, 1900.] 



SCIENCE. 



801 



publish, in book form, a selection from the 

 number of illustrations of these plants which I 

 have accumulated during the past six or seven 

 years. The selection has been made of those 

 species representing the more important genera, 

 and for the purpose of illustrating, as far as 

 possible, all the genera of agarics found in the 

 United States. This has been accomplished 

 except in a few cases of the more unimportant 

 ones. Nearly all of these genera, then, are 

 illustrated by photographs and descriptions of 

 one or several species, and in the more impor- 

 tant genera like Amanita, Lepiota, Pleiirotus, 

 Mycena, Lactarius, Russula, Paxillus, Agaricus, 

 Copriniis, etc., a larger number of species are 

 very fully illustrated, showing stages of devel- 

 opment in many instances, and with a careful 

 comparison of the different kinds. 



Among the other orders of the higher fungi 

 many genera and species of the Polypores, 

 Hedgehog Fungi, Coral Fungi, Trembling Fungi, 

 Puff Balls, Stinkhorns, Morels, etc., are illus- 

 trated and described. Among these such gen- 

 era as Boletus, Fistulina, Polyporus, Hydnum, 

 Clavaria, Tremella, Morchella, etc., come in for 

 a large number of species with beautiful photo- 

 graphs and careful descriptions. In making 

 the descriptions they have been drawn from 

 studies of living specimens, in many cases 

 showing important characters of development. 

 An attempt has also been made to avoid, as far 

 as possible, technical terms ; or to use but few 

 such terms, and the descriptions are intelligible 

 to one who is not a technical student of the 

 fungi. There is some progression in the use 

 of the technical terms in the book, fewer of 

 them being employed in the first part of the 

 book ; here they are explained, so that the 

 reader becomes gradually familiar with tllem. 

 The first few chapters are devoted to a descrip- 

 tion, in plain language, of the form and char- 

 acters of mushrooms, as well as the course of 

 development. In addition, there is a chapter, 

 at the close, dealing with the more technical 

 characters, and illustrating them. 



There are chapters on the collection and 

 preservation of the fleshy fungi, how to photo- 

 graph them and keep records of the important 

 characters, which often disappear in drying ; 

 on the selection of the plants for the table, etc. 



Mrs. Rorer contributes an excellent chapter on 

 'Recipes for cooking Mushrooms,' and Mr. J. 

 F. Clark one on the chemistry and toxicology 

 of mushrooms. There are also complete an- 

 alytical keys to the genera of the agarics found 

 in the United States, and keys to the orders of 

 the higher fungi. The glossary deals only with 

 the few technical characters employed in the 

 book. 



The photographs have been made with great 

 care after considerable experience in determin- 

 ing the best means for reproducing individual, 

 specific and generic characters, so important, 

 and so difficult to preserve in these plants, and 

 so impossible, in many cases, to accurately por- 

 tray by former methods of illustration. Over 

 200 of the illustrations are half-tone engravings 

 from these photographs. Seventy of these are 

 used as full-page plates and over 150 of the 

 half-tones are text illustrations. Fifteen addi- 

 tional species are illustrated in color. In the 

 legend of the half-tones, text illustrations, as 

 well as plates, the color of the cap, stem and 

 gills is given. 



One feature, which the author regards as a 

 very important one, needs explanation, since 

 it might seem unnecessary to some to intro- 

 duce it in the book. There is at present so 

 much confusion in the determination of the 

 American mushrooms, and so many references 

 to them are made in some publications, which 

 are unsupported by any evidence which would 

 serve as a guarantee that the species has been 

 rightly determined, or that it occurs at all in 

 the locality cited, I have followed the plan in 

 late years of preserving all the material from 

 which the photographs are made, even of the 

 common species. 



Furthermore, all material collected and pre- 

 served for the herbarium, or for photographic 

 purposes, is entered in a record book, even 

 diflferent collections of the same species, so 

 that this material if divided and distributed 

 will carry the original number. The nega- 

 tives and photographs carry a corresponding 

 number. In nearly all the photographs In 

 this book, then, it is possible to find the 

 actual specimens from which the photograph 

 has been made if ever any doubt should arise 

 as to the correct determination of the illustra. 



