Mushroom, the Journal of Wild Mushrooming

74 recommends the use of dried material for microscopic examination. A character he has found to be of importance is the colour of the washed (in 10% ammonia) gill observed under the binocular lens. Chapter VII lists the 123 taxa dealt with in the book, including 14 varieties and 19 forms which are defined in Chapter V. The rest of the book is devoted to keys and descriptions . The first key (p.37) is to subgenera, sections and subsections. (In the opening entries p.93 should read p.39.) Subsequently there are keys to sections and subsections when these contain a number of species. Each description starts with a list of synonyms and then references to descriptions and illustrations in other works. Macroscopic and microscopic characters are described in detail with drawings of fruit bodies, spores and cystidia, The habitat and distribution are given ; for some species one might perhaps quibble about the information given for the British Isles. The description concludes with a sometimes lengthy discussion section explaining differences with other taxa and drawing attention to features of interest. There are inevitably some name changes; two are worth mentioning here as they are of species frequently recorded on forays. P. hydrophila becomes P. piluliformis (Bull.:Fr.) P.O. Orton because this was the earlier of the names given to this species by Bulliard. P. squamosa becomes P. artemisiae. A few errors are rather obvious - P. spadicea appears as spadicaea on p.161 and P. sarcocephala is given as sarcocephalus on p.164. In the past there has been a good deal of confusion about these two species and I have a suspicion that Kits van Waveren may even have added to it. I have to warn you that even with this book it is not going to be easy to identify every Psathyrella you come across . I tried out the keys on some nice looking material I found lurking in the middle of a clump of michaelmas daisies at the end of November. I ran it down to P. prona f. prona but have to confess that I do not have a great deal of confidence in the determination. However, I intend to go on trying. In conclusion I would say that before you start computerisingPsathyrella records (see p.34) you will have to acquire this book. (A review by .Peter Orton will be appearing in the Transactions.y Margaret Holden Mushroom, the Journal of Wild Mushrooming, has marked the beginning of its third year of publication by making available another useful approach to mushroom identification .

Issue 9 (Autumn 1985) presents a synoptic key to the different genera . Constructed by Dr Fred Rhoades of Western Washington University, the key allows you to narrow your choices to the one correct genus by choosing from different states arranged under 18 different characteristics. The advantages of a synoptic key, according to Rhoades, are that you can take a variety of paths to the correct identification, and that it gives you a more complete understanding of the distinguishing features than you get from working with the usual dichotomous key. In earlier issues, Mushroom has presented a critique of the pictures in the Audubon field guide (issue 7), a dichotomous key to the Audubon field guide by the guide's author, Gary Lincoff (issue 8), and an introduction to the use of keys by Maggie Rogers (issue 3) . Comments on the use of keys by David Arora were included in both issues 3 and 8. SUbscriptions to the quarterly journal are j;16 overseas, from Box 3156, University Station, Moscow ID 83843, USA . All nine of the back issues are still available at ~4 overseas each, postpaid.