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Report on Botany. 



same time, could wish and do desire that the number of 

 investigators, who seek to benefit mankind by the direct 

 practical application of scientific discoveries to useful pur- 

 poses, might be largely increased. Knowledge for its own 

 sake is good, ennobling, elevating and well worth all it costs, 

 but knowledge utilized and applied to the enhancement of 

 the comforts and enjoyments of the masses, commends itself 

 to the favor and appreciation of many who otherwise would 

 forego its acquisition. 



Of all the additions made, during the past year, to the 

 botanical literature of Europe, we purpose to speak of 

 but one. It is entitled The Handbook of British FungL 

 Though not all that could be wished, it is by far the most 

 satisfactory manual on fungi yet published in the English 

 language. It gives family, generic and specific descriptions 

 of all British fungi now known, together with references and 

 synonyms. It combines in one work the results of the 

 observations of all the leading mycologists of Europe, 

 frequently giving supplementary descriptions by Fries, 

 Berkeley, Smith and Currey. It is profusely illustrated by 

 woodcuts which elucidate the characters of all the principal 

 genera. It gives the dimensions of the spores in very 

 many species. But the most marked feature of the work 

 and the one on account of which we especially desire to 

 notice it, is its recognition of that singular phase of fungoid 

 development commonly called dualism or dimorphism. 

 Heretofore this character has merely been suspected or sug- 

 gested or affirmed in some special treatise or essay. In this 

 work it is embodied in definite form, the two or more kinds of 

 development being described under the single name of the 

 species of which they are but the different phases. It is 

 true this diminishes the number of species formerly so 

 called, but it at the same time adds interest to those that 

 remain. This character furnishes another link in the chain 

 of similarity between animals and plants. As we find 



