42 



Mycologia 



Dr. B. F. Lutman, of the Vermont Agricultural Experiment 

 Station, visited the Garden on January 3. 



Mr. Lars Romell, of Stockholm, Sweden, an authority on 

 fleshy fungi, some time ago made a personal test of the poisonous 

 properties of fresh plants of Entoloma lividum, with almost fatal 

 results. He followed this up with a plant of Amanita muscaria 

 which had been boiled five minutes in water, and the effect on his 

 system was not noticeable. Such experiments should be made 

 with great caution. 



The " Shiitake," an edible mushroom cultivated for centuries 

 in Japan on decaying trunks of oak and hornbeam sprinkled at 

 intervals with rice water, has been found to have several scientific 

 names, Specimens obtained from shops in Japan by the Chal- 

 lenger Expedition in 1875 were named Agaricus (Armillaria) 

 edodes by Berkeley (Jour. Linn. Soc. Bot. 16: 50. 1878), this 

 being the first name applied and the best classification of the. 

 species. Specimens obtained in Japan in 1873 were assigned a 

 herbarium name, Agaricus (Pleurotus) russaticeps, by Berkeley, 

 which was published by Cooke (Grevillea 16: 106. 1888) ten 

 years after A. edodes was published. Schroter, in Garten flora 

 for 1886, described the same species -from dried material as 

 Collybia Shiitake ; while Hennings, on receiving alcoholic speci- 

 mens from Shirai, discovered a veil in the younger sporophores 

 and transferred it to the genus Cortinellus, changing the name 

 to Cortinellus Shiitake (Schrot.) P. Henn. Excellent speci- 

 mens have been sent to the Garden by Professor Kusano, of 

 Tokyo, during the past year, and others have been bought in the 

 Chinese shops of New York City. The species is a good Armil- 

 laria, but it resembles Marasmius both in appearance and habit 

 of growth. 



At the recent Minneapolis Meeting, Dr. C. E. Bessey, Profes- 

 sor of Botany of the University of Nebraska, was elected Presi- 

 dent of the American Association for the coming year; Dr. F. C. 

 Newcombe, of the University of Michigan, was elected Vice- 

 president of Section G; and Dr. W. G. Farlow, of Harvard Uni- 



