102 THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. 



is such an opening for original work. Every day new species are 

 being found, or species known in Europe are being, for the first 

 time, found on this continent. Think of the excitement of a 

 botanist that discovered a new species of flower. He would think 

 that such a find rewarded him amply for years of labor. 



The whole study of mycology is in a, state of chaos. There is 

 room for a great deal of profitable work in finding new fungi, and in 

 more correctly classifying those already found. Years of good 

 work might be spent on each of a great many different genera. 

 The classification of well-known fungi is being continually changed 

 as a result of further investigation. 



I know of no complete works on the fungi of this continent or 

 of this district. We depend for systematic classification almost 

 entirely on European authorities. 



The mushrooms of this country are nearly identical with those 

 of Europe, so that European works on the subject apply to our 

 specimens more nearly than we would have expected. But there 

 are differences, and descriptions of mushrooms in Europe require 

 revision to cover the same species here. 



The father of the study of mycology in Europe was Elias Fries, 

 who published his great work in Latin in 1874. Probably the next 

 best work on the subject is Stevenson's British Fungi, 1886, which 

 is based largely on Fries. Berkeley has also written a useful book 

 on the subject, which is widely known. 



We are indebted to Mr. Worthington Smith for a key to the 

 classification of the Hymenomycetes. The old genus Agaricus is 

 generally made to include a great number of sub-genera. The 

 tendency is now, I believe, to elevate these sub-genera to the stand- 

 ing of genera. In this I understand that Saccardo is taking the , 

 lead. Many mushrooms that were formerly called separate species 

 are now called only varieties, and the old classifications are being 

 changed in many other ways. In this country I know of no com- 

 plete systematic classification. We have a great many books giving 

 descriptions of a great many difi"erent species. 



Mr. Peck, of the University of New York, has published, 

 perhaps, the most valuable work on the subject, which is un- 

 fortunately out of print. (I have here a copy that I obtained 

 through the courtesy of Mr. Griswold, the Law Librarian at Albany.) 



