popular work easy to understand, with no technical expressions.

This necessity for a simple guide-book has been felt by many. Let us
give our own experience. We procured a list of works on fungi, and
looked for some volume not too deep for our comprehension nor too costly
for our purse. Among those we found were “Handbook for Students”
(Taylor); “Edible and Poisonous Fungi” (Cooke), and a pamphlet by
Professor Peck, “Mushrooms and Their Uses.” This seemed to be the one
that we could comprehend most easily, and so, armed with it, and another
pamphlet by Professor Underwood, called “Suggestions to Collectors of
Fleshy Fungi,” which contained a simple key, we started out to make
discoveries. We afterward procured some publications of Mr. C. G. Lloyd,
which were of great assistance, and lastly a glossary published by the
Boston Mycological Society, a necessary addition to our library.

We found Professor Peck’s book was confined to edible mushrooms, and it
soon became too limited to satisfy our craving for further knowledge--it
incited a longing to know something of inedible fungi.

The rest is soon told. We were advised to get either a copy of
Stevenson’s “British Fungi” or of Massee’s works. We did so, but found
them too advanced to be readily used by the unlearned. Then the idea
arose, How can we help others in their difficulties? This little book is
the answer. It will not be of use to advanced students, they will only
criticise and discover how much has been left unsaid; but the beginner
is more easily satisfied with the extent of information gained, and if a
taste for knowledge is encouraged the object of this book is attained.

This explanation will also account for the use of simple terms. We find
a tiny fungus which looks like a brownish bird’s nest, with some