Thoughts for the collector

Volume 8, Part 3, August 1994 However, the material with which I am familiar is presented clearly and in an easily accessible way. I have no doubt that parts of the volumes will be referred to frequently in our laboratory at Reading University. Here perhaps, lies-the disadvantage to the purchaser of systems such as this. Despite the assertions of the editors, I doubt whether any researcher really needs such a broadranging reference work. Indeed, much of the volume will be of little or no relevance to the type of work we carry out, and this, I believe will apply to most specialist units. Materials scientists for instance, are unlikely to need the large sections on biological specimen preparation. While the contents of the core volume are well presented and of high quality, these are to some extent let down by the loose-leaf system used. Removing the folder from its box was quite a task since it weighs 4.6 kg and would represent quite a challenge for a diminutive technician or anyone liable to hernia. In fact, as a result ofthe weight of paper contained in the folder, the cover of my copy detached itself as I removed it from the box. The last page of the appendix simultaneously tore itself free of the binder posts, thereby justifying

myoid biology master's disapproval of the looseleaf system for note-taking and storage. He described it as the 'lost-leaf system'. I can also foresee problems with unauthorised removal of data sheets in busy laboratories like ours, which provides a service to numerous users. I am sure there are many reasons why the publishers could not have offered a 'bespoke' manual, so that electron microscopists might buy and pay for updating of only the sections of interest to them. This would have resulted in slimmer, more manageable folders, and even increased sales to impoverished laboratories unable to afford the price of the whole work. In conclusion I would say that the concept is good and contents of the folder are excellent, but the publishers need to give some attention to the problems with the durability of the loose-leaf system, and the binder. The latter is essential if the editors wish that 'like a bottle of good red wine, the contents will improve with ageing' is to be fulfilled. Otherwise, the work will disintegrate before the techniques it describes become obsolete. J.R Barnett

Compendium of Turfgrass Diseases (Second Edition) by RW. Smiley, P.H. Dernoeden & B.B. Clarke (1992 American Phytopathological Society, St Paul, Minnesota). Pp. 128; 186 colour plates, soft back, ISBN 0-89054-124-8. Price US $30; elsewhere $37. Compendium of Rice Diseases by RK. Webster & P.M. Gunnell (1992 American Phytopathological Society, St Paul, Minnesota). Pp. 110; 135 colour plates, soft back, ISBN 0-89054-126-4. Price US $30; elsewhere $37. These are just two examples of this series that the APS has been publishing for a number of years. By now most major crops, as well as important amenity plants such as turfgrasses have now been

covered by these admirable guides. Both these compendia like the others in the series are crammed full of excellent black and white and colour illustrations. Gardeners will find the Compendium of Turfgrass Diseases a very comprehensive manual that will help advise on those brown patches that disfigure so many lawns at different times of the year. Both compendia will be invaluable to the professional plant pathologist. Roland Fox Books for Review should be sent to J.H. Burnett, the Mycologist, c/o 13 Field House Drive, OXFORD OX2 7NT

CORRESPONDENCE Thoughts for the Collector This autumn the Crown Estate Foresters at Windsor Great Park confiscated over 30 kg of fungi (mainly Boleti) collected by one Italian restaurateur from London. Windsor Park is recognised as a site of National Nature Reserve status and internationally important for fungi and invertebrates. The importance of Windsor as a nature reserve is recognised by the Crown Estates who conduct a policy of deterring excessive col-

lecting of fungi and confiscate large amounts from collectors. Whilst mycologists are generally of the opinion that the collecting of fungal fruit bodies is not considered detrimental to the fungus itself, there is no doubt too that the majority would agree that collecting large amounts is simply pure greed and exploiting a limited resource until it runs out. Nowadays the vast majority of people would react very unfavourably to seeing people emerg-

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Part 3, August I <)<)~

ing from a wood with large bunches of primroses or bluebells; but why not react unfavourably to people with large bags full of toadstools? As a food source toadstools help support a good cross section of.:woodland inhabitants from deer to mice and slugs, whilst many species of beetles and flies are virtually dependent on fruit bodies for their existence. However, not one of these woodland inhabitants would ever miss a bunch of flowers! Perhaps the time has come for mycologists to take the initiative and make the public aware of the importance of fungi in woodlands. Also, without doubt, owners and managers of nature reserves and other important woodlands would

welcome guidelines on the collecting and conservation of fungi. Outside the Mediterranean region our ancient and veteran trees have no equal in Europe. We still have some small vestiges of ancient woodland and, if Oxleas Wood is an example, we care and defend them. However, neither ancient tree or ancient wood could have survived the rigours of time down through the ages without fungi. So why don't we care and defend our fungi?

Common local fungi

may have access to microscopes. How much microscopic detail is needed remains a matter of judgement. Undergraduate students normally do not have the time to study comprehensive microscopic descriptions to any great extent, but the inclusion of carefully selected literature references provides, if need be, a link with more definitive taxonomic information in places such as university libraries. B.M. Spooner further castigates me for incorporating unnamed species in my book, although I am not the first to plead guilty to this practice. Students of fungi in the United Kingdom and Europe are heirs to a rich heritage of intensive mycological endeavour. They are fortunate in having recourse to a variety of well illustrated and wide-ranging popular guidebooks covering a region where it is apparently now possible to name every common species. Not so in other parts of the world, such as New Zealand, where even some of the more common fungi have still to be properly studied and which may remain in this state for some time, given the current low incidence of working taxonomists. Under these circumstances should the author of a guidebook omit these species altogether resulting in a book that is precise but unrepresentative, or should a selection be made from among the commonest so that the student can at least place them in an appropriate genus? The latter option seems much the more helpful. Others of B.M. Spooner's complaints could be similarly addressed, but to little further advantage. The ultimate test of a guidebook is, of course, its usefulness and practicality to any who habitually use it. LA. Hood Queensland Forest Research Institute, P.O. Box 631, Indooroopilly, Q4068 Australia

What should be the nature and content of a guidebook designed to help a person become acquainted with the common fungi present in his or her neighbourhood? This question is raised indirectly in a recent critical review of my book by B.M. Spooner who contends that a publication such as mine should include a large number of species and be based on microscopic as well as macroscopic characters ('An Illustrated Guide to Fungi on Wood in New Zealand', The Mycologist 7(4): 201202). In New Zealand there is now an extensive if incomplete body of taxonomic literature available as resource material to the specialist in fungi. G.H. Cunningham's publications among others (including B.M. Spooner's own), are indispensible to professional mycologists in this region, but they do not simplify life for the non-specialist. Until the recent appearance of a small number of guidebooks even the commonest fungi had long remained strangers to the serious amateur lacking the advantage of access to reference herbarium collections. This is because the comprehensive taxonomic works, if available, rarely illustrate the distinctive overall macroscopic appearance of a specimen fresh from the forest, and because painstaking microscopic descriptions are oflittle help to those who have no microscope. I suggest, therefore, that for a guidebook to be most useful to a wide variety of interested people it needs to be based as far as possible on macroscopic appearance, and that this is a fairly realistic approach if the book deals with a region limited in area containing a circumscribed number of common larger fungi. Notwithstanding this, however, the inclusion in concise format of some key microscopic characters (such as distinctive spore shape or presence of setae) does add considerable value for those such as students who

E.E. Green English Nature 29 October 1993