PREFACE 



There are not many subjects in the realm of the classi- 

 fied natural sciences which one is forced to study at first 

 hand. Our libraries have led us to enjoy a comfortable 

 sense of non-observing ease. When our attention has been 

 aroused by some science, and we have felt that mental 

 turning of the key that means the opening of a new door 

 of interest, our first impulse has been to go with the con- 

 fidence and assurance born of past experience in matters 

 literary and scientific to a good library, and announce that 

 we want to see all the books bearing on our newly discovered 

 interest. 



When Mr. Gibson first published his article, and later 

 his book, on Edible Mushrooms, the libraries were over- 

 run with students fired with a new ardour by the delightful 

 glimpse into the world of fungi. Some browsed through 

 the stacks. Some sent to Agricultural Departments of their 

 various states for stray illustrated monographs; some 

 saved their money and bought incomprehensible technical 

 works on European fungi, but all met with the same ex- 

 perience. It was impossible to find any book that told 

 all about all the mushrooms that one could find in a day's 

 walk. The result was that the unsatisfied interest forced 

 people to observe. Mycological clubs became the fad; and 



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