ASC03IYCETES. 9 



used. A note of the colour should be made when fresh, as 

 this disappears in most species when placed in spirit. 



Finally, make careful sketches — always drawn to the 

 same scale — accompanied by notes, when examining a species, 

 then the work will not have to be done over again ; always 

 bearing in mind that notes and sketches made by yourself 

 are more valuable than those made by any one else ; besides, 

 no one can be considered to know a species thoroughly until 

 it has been worked out by himself. 



Type specimens. In the case of the Basidiomycetes, 

 excepting the Polyporeae, type specimens are of very little 

 value, the information to be derived from a dried agaric or 

 Clavaria being usually reduced to the form, size, and colour 

 of the spore ; characters certainly not of primary value in a 

 specific diagnosis in this group. 



In the Hystoriaceae and the Discomycetes the case is very 

 different; in the former a dried specimen, when properlj' 

 soaked and examined, is quite as good as a fresh one, and 

 even in the fleshy Discomycetes the tame statement holds 

 good, with the one exception of colour, which to some extent 

 changes during drying ; hence all available types have been 

 examined. It will ^jrobably be noted that the characters of 

 many familiar species, ;is given in this book, differ more or 

 less in matters of detail from those to be found in previous 

 works ; this apparent discrepancy is explained by the fact 

 that many of the types were described half a century ago, 

 when microscopic details received very little attention ; and 

 even in the case of more recently described species, micro- 

 scopic features, other than the spores, are often scanty. 



In those cases where no type specimen was accessible, the 

 form considered as tyjiical by common consent, and contained 

 in some well-known exsiccati, is accepted, and such source is 

 quoted. 



