20 OCTOBER 1906, Page 21

Text - Book of Fungi. By George Masse°. (Duckworth and Co. 6s.)—"

The present volume," we are informed, "is arranged as a text-book for educational use, and it is written on the lines required by the Board of Agriculture." In the main, of course, it is scientific. Science is quite rightly made the basis, but practical applications will not be found wanting. The agriculturist, for instance, will find useful matter in the narrative of mushroom beds attacked by alien fungi. Of four beds, all prepared in exactly the same way, and with spawn from the same source, two produced ample crops of mushrooms, one was invaded by a pink-spored, and one by a white-spored species ( Voivaria gloiocephala and Clitocyle nebularis) and absolutely ruined.