THE TAXONOMY OF THE AGARICACEAE 
all the lichens, practically all the polypores, most of the gasteromycetes, 
all the Thelephoraceae, most of the Hydnaceae, and many of the 
smaller and tougher gill-fungi, (3) those requiring the sun or artificial 
heat for drying, this class including practically all the fleshy gill-fungi, 
many of the larger fleshy cup-fungi, a few of the gasteromycetes, some 
of the coral-fungi, hedgehog fungi, and polypores, and all the Boleta- 
ceae, this last family being the most difficult for the collector. 
It is important that fleshy specimens be allowed to dry as naturally 
as possible, even if artificial heat is used, since they often assume 
characteristic shapes in drying. The heat should never be strong 
enough to cook the specimens, and they should not be pressed in order 
to mount them in packets. A fresh specimen badly infested with 
insects may be treated with naphthalene or chloroform in order to 
prevent the destruction of the specimen before it can be dried. In 
the mountains of Austria and Italy, where the air is unusually dry, 
I found artificial heat rarely necessary. In the wilds of Maine and 
Cuba, I used a special drying oven over a camp stove; at the Lake 
Placid Club in the Adirondacks, a sunny, steam-heated room; in the 
Catskills, a large open fireplace ; in Oregon, a ''biplane " made of window 
screens suspended over a wood stove; in Virginia, a garret over the 
kitchen stove; on the Vanderbilt estate in North Carolina, the ordinary 
sunshine; and in Jamaica and Mexico, a drying oven over two tin oil 
lamps, which were often kept going all night. 
It sometimes happens that a botanist may know a distant region 
better than the one in which he lives. When one goes away for a 
definite object, he can devote his time to that object, while at home his 
attention is often absorbed with numerous other interests. In my 
own case, while I have been able to get a fair knowledge of the species 
occurring in the immediate vicinity by getting up at an early hour in 
the morning, I have given rather special attention to northern New 
York, Maine, Virginia, North Carolina, Washington, California, 
Mexico, Jamaica, Cuba, and many parts of Europe, the fungi brought 
back from these regions amounting to over 30,000 herbarium specimens. 
The mycological herbarium at the New York Botanical Garden 
contains about 200,000 specimens, half of which were obtained from 
Mr. J. B. Ellis, who at the time of his death had described more new 
species than all other American mycologists together. The value of 
such a collection can hardly be overestimated. From a purely botan- 
ical standpoint, it is highly important that original and representative 
