. aoe 
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, 
(156) 

