PREFACE This is one of a series of books intended to introduce field-biology to students, particularly the sixth form and early university student. The present work is ecologically biased in order to emphasise a rather neglected aspect of the higher fungi. Few books on fungi have ever been designed for students. This book is aimed primarily at this level, but if the interested amateur is assisted and encouraged by this same text my hopes will have been doubly achieved. Many amateurs interested

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... n higher fungi wish only to name their collections, or know approximately what they are before sampling them as an addition to their diet. An understanding of our commoner species at an early age will allow the 'budding' mycologist to tackle the much needed study of the more critical forms. Mycology is still at a descriptive stage, but it is hoped this will soon be changed and fungi of all kinds will be studied as part and parcel of courses in ecology. It is of course quite impossible to cover all the species in such a small volume as this present one, but it is hoped that the examples which have been carefully chosen are sufficiently common throughout the country for any student to collect them in a single season. The examples, except for very few, in fact appear in the list of higher fungi found about the Kindrogan Field Centre, Perthshire, Scotland, compiled from the collections made by students attending my field course there.