Among the Mushrooms. A Guide for Beginners. By Emma L. Dallas 
and Caroline A. Burgin, Philadelphia, 1900; Drexel Biddle, Publisher, 
pp. 175, $2.00. 
To amateurs of mushrooms, who have found the literature of the sub¬ 
ject at times hopeless and dreary, a little volume recently published in 
Philadelphia should bring recreation and entertainment. Inspired to see, 
with Emerson, that “ a poor fungus or mushroom .... is the symbol of 
the power of kindness,” the authors of the modest volume were led by 
the difficulties that beset the path to knowledge to think of the trials and 
distress of others that might follow in their footsteps. How could they 
help them? “This little book is the answer.” “Let us give our own 
experience,” they said, and they have told it in language as simple as it 
is diverting. 
To review the book seriously would be cruel. It is not meant to be 
reviewed, but to be read and enjoyed, in the spirit in which the authors 
carried on their studies. By quotation, however, the true value of the 
book to the weary student can, perhaps, be indicated. “We began for 
pleasure and recreation, but it became irksome and fatiguing, and the 
subject which might have amused us .... is put aside and abandoned.” 
The introduction transports us from “ the bustling, noisy streets of 
a city into the quiet fields and woods, where the bright-hued mushrooms ” 
invite us to “the discovery of new specimens, the learning of their names, 
the knowledge of their curious organizations” which “will all add an 
interest to our lives.” “Among the fallen leaves—peers out a br ight 
yellow mushroom.” We dig it up. “ We have brought a basket and 
trowel and can examine them thoroughly.” 
From the woods we pass presently to the study, to learn that “Fungi 
have existed from early geological ages,” the oldest known Hymenomy- 
cete, being the one that “was called Polyporites Bowmanii.” “It is 
interesting to know that even before the Tertiary period the undergrowth 
consisted of ferns and fleshy fungi. What a time of delight for the 
botanist! But there were no human beings in those days to roam 
amongst that luxuriant undergrowth, and only the fossil remains in the 
deposits of coal and peat are left to tell of their former existence.” Alas! 
Untimely fate of early man ! 
Under various heads follows much information as to structure, habit, 
etc., that can be gathered rather better from other books. No where else, 
however, can we learn that the “ group of Basidiomycetes is divided into 
(1) Stomach fungi, (2) Spore sac fungi, and (3) Membrane fungi”; or 
that in Agarics the gills “ contain the spores ” ; or that the trama “ lies 
between the two layers of gills in Agarics.” 
In an outline of the system of classification, the principal genera are 
briefly characterized, and the meanings of their names are elucidated. 
The student may here learn much that no lexicon will ever reveal to him : 
that Lactarius = milk ; Marasmius = to wither; Cortinarius = a veil; and 
Telamonia = lint. Having worked through the genera in this way, the 
authors proceed to give descriptions “of fungi familiar to most persons, 
classified according to the colors of the cap.” The list begins with 
Russula emetica, described, as is not unusual, in such a way as to make 
it very doubtful whether the writers know the species. Thus, no men¬ 
tion is made of its viscidity, and it is said to grow “ among dead leaves, 
in the woods and open places from July to December.” Cortinarius 
alboviolaceous, the last species in the list, exemplifies a prevalent uncer¬ 
tainty in the handling of the Latin names. Then follows “ a list of fungi 
that we constantly see, but which cannot be classified by the color of the 
cap.” Here we find much curious information, as in regard to Clavaria 
