Iconography of the Mushrooms of Paulet

leave doubt hovering; they are not made with enough method, and besides, one clearly sees that the figures were intended to serve as their complement. Ours aim to dispel some uncertainties and, above all, to establish the synonymic concordance with Persoon, Fries, Bulliard, and all the most esteemed authors of our time. This concordance being established, Paulet's work no longer remains isolated, and it can be consulted by everyone.

It would have been easy to enter into long discussions on the value of several species, and above all to show erudition by multiplying the synonyms. We have avoided the former, because they would have convinced no one, and we have been very sober with the latter, because generally the more numerous they are, the more different species are confused. We have preferred to give only two or three that identify the author of the species, the source from which Paulet drew, and the best figure known. Unfortunately, there are a certain number of represented species that it was impossible for us to recognize. Some offered characteristics that one could still grasp; these were described and received a new denomination. Others, and they are quite numerous, were mentioned, but while including Paulet's own description, so as not to mutilate the work and to leave everyone the freedom to interpret them as they see fit.

The atlas of the Traité des Champignons did not recommend itself by the regularity in the arrangement of the plates. If each sheet, as is the most common case, only bears a single sequence number, there are some that are indicated by bis and ter, others that are multiple—that is to say, which contain two or three plates—and finally one finds some that are complementary and whose series of numbers begins with 4, 5, or 6. This flawed arrangement made Paulet's work difficult to use. The author, however, had remedied this inconvenience by repeating on the plates, following each specific name, the digit corresponding to the pagination of his text, so that each description referred to the figure, and each figure to the description. These indications have been preserved on the new plates for those who possess Paulet's text. We have only, in order to make searches easier, given a single number to each plate and regularized those of the supplementary plates. These slight changes do not modify the atlas; it retains all its integrity, and its arrangement is more regular.

When one follows the description of a species with the figure before one's eyes, it happens sometimes that the colors indicated are not those rendered; one would readily believe that the artist forgot himself for an instant. The Agaricus Aquifolii Holly-leaved Agaric offers a remarkable example of this: the cap of this mushroom is painted in red. Paulet corrected this mistake himself by providing a second plate on which the red is replaced by yellow, which is the natural color. This species is not the only one; there are others that also err, regarding color, but in only a few parts; we believed we should touch up these colors in order to put the figures in harmony with the text. These are the only