Although the following statement may be difficult to understand, it is nevertheless a fact, that many men _do not know what a mushroom is at all, but will eat anything_. I will give an instance: A year or two ago, a man in the north of England cooked a large batch of what he called mushrooms, for supper, and succeeded in poisoning his wife and family to _death_, and himself nearly to death. Some of the things he cooked were sent to me for identification, and lo! he had gathered everything he could lay his hands upon; large and small, sweet and foul—off horsedung, and rotten palings, and from wherever he could find anything with a stalk and a top to it after the manner of an umbrella. When he had buried his family and recovered his own health, he carelessly walked into a well, and either killed or much damaged himself—I forget which. I mention this to show the sort of men they are who poison themselves with mushrooms. They would poison themselves with anything else if they had the opportunity; would get under a cart-wheel, or do any absurd thing. The twenty-nine species figured on the “Edible Sheet” are most of them abundant, and instantly recognizable when seen, and every one is a wholesome and delicious object of food, full of aroma and flavour. I invite my readers to partake of the bountiful feast spread in our rich pastures and shady woodlands all over the country for all who care to partake. “Mushrooms and Toadstools.”—These two words embrace the whole of the knowledge possessed by the people at large regarding the immense fungus tribe of this country. If we take the mushroom type of fungus as an example, we have some seven hundred species, all possessing a certain general similitude of form. This has caused many to look upon fungi in common as equivocal productions, difficult or impossible to distinguish as permanent species; but when the study is once entered upon in earnest, the student will soon perceive that the species, as a rule, are marked with great distinctness and permanency, rendering the recognition of most of them as certain as in any species of flowering plant.