Iconography of the Mushrooms of Paulet

and of its properties; he often even manages to make known the means of preserving it or the manner of preparing it for culinary use; and if, by an act of imprudence, it has caused any somewhat serious accident or a genuine poisoning, Paulet always takes care to report the observation with all the details he has been able to collect.

When Persoon published his Synopsis fungorum Synopsis of Fungi in Göttingen in 1801, it is probable that he did not know Paulet, because he does not mention him anywhere in that precious work. It is only in 1819, in his Traité des Champignons comestibles Treatise on Edible Mushrooms, and in 1828 in the third section of the Mycologia europæa European Mycology that he cites him occasionally. Persoon died, leaving this last work incomplete, which he had begun long ago and in which the name of Paulet would have been recalled often, as we were able to convince ourselves by browsing through the plates of the Traité des Champignons Treatise on Mushrooms annotated in his own hand, which we owe to the kindness of our excellent colleague Dr. Cordier. When one consults the Mycographie suisse Swiss Mycography, one sees that M. Secretan had Paulet in his hands, and that he drew some useful information from it. M. Fries, whose knowledge in mycological bibliography is so extensive, does not appear to have had the Traité des Champignons at his disposal, at least during the time he was elaborating his Systema mycologicum Mycological System, the first volume of which was published in 1821. Nothing in this work, which then produced a revolution in the methodical study of mushrooms, reveals the existence of Paulet: but in 1836, fifteen years later, he had made a thorough study of it, and he consigned the results to his Epicrisis Systematis mycologici Critical Review of the Mycological System. The learned professor, who has known—often with astonishing success—how to reestablish very doubtful and even unrecognizable species due to the almost total absence of characteristics stated by authors, has reviewed the greater part of those that Paulet described and illustrated: for some, which were already known, he restored their true name; for others, which were not, he gave a new one; among these latter are an Agaricus and a Boletus that he dedicated to the memory of the French botanist.

All mycologists know the difficulties one experiences when one needs to consult the Traité des Champignons of Paulet. If the text is quite common, the same is not true of the atlas that must accompany it. Copies of the complete work are rare: it is probable that, during the author's lifetime, only a small number of plates were printed, for after his death none were found, while all the copper plates were in good order and in a perfect state of conservation. In becoming the owner of these plates, M. J. B. Baillière thought that a new edition would not be without utility for science: this happy idea led us, despite the aridity of the work, to join to it a new text, concise and in keeping with the current era.

The descriptions of mushrooms, among ancient authors, constantly suffer from too much brevity; those of Paulet, although more extensive, most ordinarily