REPORT OF THE BOTANIST. 



S. B. Woolworth, LL. D., Secretary of the Board of Regents of the 

 University : 



Sir — Since the date of my last report, specimens of one hundred 

 and eighty-three species of plants have been mounted and placed in 

 the herbarium of the State Museum of Natural History, none of which 

 were before represented therein. A list of the specimens mounted is 

 marked (1). 



Specimens of plants have been collected in the counties of Albany, 

 Dutchess, Oneida, Onondaga, Orange, Saratoga, Schenectady, Suffolk 

 and Eensselaer. These represent one hundred and eighty-eight species, 

 of which one hundred and fifty-one are new to the herbarium. Sixty- 

 eight of these are believed to be new or hitherto undescribed species. 

 A list of the specimens collected is marked (2). 



Specimens of nineteen New York species, new to the herbarium and 

 not represented by specimens collected by myself, have been contrib- 

 uted by correspondents. These, added to those collected, make the 

 whole number of added species one hundred and seventy. There are, 

 besides, a considerable number of extra-limital contributions. A list 

 of the contributors and their contributions is marked (3). 



Previously unreported species, including new species and their de- 

 scriptions, are marked (4). 



New stations of rare plants, remarks and observations are marked (5). 

 ' Among the Agarics, classified by botanists under the sub-generic 

 name Amanita, are several species known to be deleterious when used 

 as food. These are sometimes mistaken, by persons not possessing 

 sufficient knowledge or ability to distinguish the species, for those that 

 are harmless and truly edible, and serious accidents are the result. 

 The published descriptions of the species are generally purely techni- 

 cal, and scarcely intelligible to any except botanists. It has, therefore, 

 seemed desirable that a revision of the New York species of this group 

 should be made, and the descriptions written in such a manner as to give 

 special prominence to the principal distinctive characters, so that the spe- 

 cies may be easily and readily recognized. The descriptions of all the 

 species hitherto observed in our State have, therefore, been rewritten and 

 supplemented by remarks upon their variations, their peculiar charac- 

 teristics, and their distinguishing specific features. For the benefit of 

 students of fungi, the synonyms have to some extent been given, and 

 the spore characters of each species have been added. The qualities 

 generally ascribed to the more common species are also noted. Of 

 the others, they are not yet ascertained. The account of these Agarics 

 is marked (6). 



