FUNGI. 



The representatives of this very extensive and difficult family of 

 plants are of course widely distributed in all parts of the county, but 

 owing to the impossibility of preparing herbarium specimens of the 

 softer species which would be of any value, and to the fact that so 

 few persons are interested in the study of the subject, no collection 

 has ever been brought together of sufficient size to make the enum- 

 eration of the species of any service as a guide to the study of the 

 Fungi of the county. A very full list of the Fungi growing in the 

 vicinity of Amherst, Mass., particularly those about Brattleboro, 

 Vermont, was prepared by the late Charles C. Frost of the last- 

 named place, and will be found in the " Catalogue of Plants growing 

 within thirty miles of Amherst College," published in 1875. This list 

 probably includes many species not found here, but can be used gen- 

 erally to assist the collector to the species which may be looked 

 for in this region, and the reader is also referred to the' " List of 

 Fungi collected in the vicinity of Boston" (Proc. Boston Soc. Nat. 

 Hist., Vol. VI, 1856), and the "List of Fungi found in the vicinity of 

 Boston" (Prof. W. G. Farlow, in Bull. Bussey Inst., March, 1876, and 

 Jan., 1878) for further assistance. Moreover, it is probable, as has 

 been suggested by an eminent authority, that without a complete 

 knowledge of European forms from living specimens, and a familiarity 

 with the foreign literature upon the subject, very little original work 

 can be accomplished, at least to be of permanent value. 

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