THE HISTORY OF MYCOLOGY IN ESSEX. 271
part of the year, find plenty of rational amusement and
employment, for many days and weeks, in gathering and
making figures, and taking descriptions of such as they meet
with. In a shrubbery of some extent, such as is frequently
attached to gardens, a great number of sorts will be found.
Pine groves appear to produce species unknown elsewhere. This
tribe of vegetables is not confined to woods or fields, or
open heaths ; but is to be met with in numerous situations.
Some grow on the stems of trees, others on dead stumps.
Rotten fruit, decayed paste (made with flour and water over
the fire), and rotten wood, decayed stems of grass, the rotten
grubs of insects, dead leaves, and decayed cheese, all serve
as proper soils for the seeds to vegetate in ; so that some
kinds may easily be procured without going far for them.
For the purpose of keeping a collection of drawings together,
it is recommended to make the figures (the original sketches)
in a book, and to have another book for the written descriptions,
each book referring to the other. When there have been
drawings made of the plants in their different stages of growth,
considered sufficient to identify them, copies of the originals,
some of which may, from circumstances, have been taken at
different times, and in distinct parts of the book, can be made
on one piece of paper.
"As it has been found in various arts, that a division of
labour is of use, there can be little doubt, if the same method
were adopted in science, that many discoveries would sooner
be made, than without such a plan being followed. If one
person made it more particularly his object to attend to the
genus Agaricus, another Boletus, and so forth, great benefit,
there is reason to believe, would arise to this part of Botany.
"The time of the year now approaching, which may be
called the Fungus Season, will, it is hoped, be considered as
some reason for bringing forward this Introduction in a form,
which, had there been a longer time to write it in, might have
been more fit for publication. Let it be remembered, that
it is not put forth as even an attempt at a complete System
of Fungi (so far as relates to the Genera), but that the object
of it is particularly to recommend to young people and others,
whether Botanists or not, who are fond of, and in the practice
of, drawing flowers, to take accurate figures, accompanied