V

PREFACE.

The object of this Work is to furnish materials for the correctdetermination of the larger British Fungi, and such only as re-quire nothing more than a common lens for their examination.In consequence, all microscopic details have, as far as it waspossible, been avoided, though to meet the wishes of severalscientific friends, a complete list of the more minute speciesis appended, together with references by which the places inwhich those species which have been determined as Britishsince the publication of the ‘ English Flora/ are recorded ordescribed, may be readily found. A Glossary of the lessfamiliar terms, and a list of most of the authors referred toin the descriptive part, have been added, in the hope thatthey may prove useful to students.

Those persons who may wish hereafter to extend their re-searches, will find that they have made a good beginning bythe study of the larger species, the determination of which,properly conducted, will prepare them for a much more correctappreciation of the limits within which the more obscureFungi are comprised. The contrary practice of empirically