field can be studied at leisure in the herbarium almost as well as if 

 it were in a fresh state. A dried mushroom, unless accompanied 

 by full and carefully made field notes, is usually almost or quite 

 worthless for purposes of identification or study. It is this fact 

 more than any other that accounts for our present scanty and un- 

 satisfactory knowledge of the mushroom flora of North America. 

 It must not be inferred from the above that the dried specimens 

 are useless, and can therefore be dispensed with. On the con- 

 trary, they should be prepared and preserved with great care, since 

 they serve to interpret the descriptions, and, while not preserving 

 fully the characters of the fresh plant, they do preserve some 

 of them, and often besides develop quite good ones of their own. 

 They should be dried quickly by fire-heat in a wire rack placed 

 over a stove or lamp. They should then be stored in pasteboard 

 boxes, and should not be moistened and pressed flat, as is some- 

 times advised. Before drying the plants, each lot should be care- 

 fully studied, and a full description drawn up of all the points likely 

 to be useful in determining the species. This is time-consuming 

 work, but upon its faithful performance the entire value of the 

 collection will depend. In order to save time and to systematize 

 the work, I have devised the following description-blank : * 



Name Veil 

 Habitat Annulus 



Habit Stipe 

 Pileus size 



size shape 



shape 









surface 



color 









color 



surface 









substance 



margin 









Volva 



Lamellae 









Flesh 



attachment 









color 



number 









changes 



shape 









taste 



color 









odor 



spores 











'*This is here printed in two col 



umns 



merely to 



economize space ; in Professor 



rle's blank the printing stands in a 



single column.— 



-Ed. 





