Vi

PREFACE.

determining the more minute species without any notion oftheir characters, variations, and structure, will end in nothingsound and satisfactory, while few exercises of the mental powerscan be more improving than a diligent study of such a genusas Agaricus.

I wish it to be understood distinctly that I have not aimedat originality in defining the genera and species, but haveadopted the best characters wherever I could find them, andI regret that, from an accident in transmission, I have notbeen able to avail myself of more than a small portion ofFries’s latest work on the Hymenomycetes, which is unpub-lished.

Of the figures it will be sufficient to say that the greaterpart have been drawn by Mr. Fitch, whose talents as adraughtsman are too well known to require any recommen-dation. To Mr. Broome, who has for so many years been myfellow-labourer, I have been indebted for much assistance inthe course of the work, as also to Mr..Currey. It is to theirlabours principally that the enormous increase in the list ofFungi since the publication of the ‘English Flora’ is due,amounting now to more than 2,380 species.

King’s Cliffe,

August, 18G0.