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Mycotaxon 110 Book Reviews ... 523
and convincing. Each taxon is illustrated by a range of specimens shown life-size
or larger and often taken from two or more collections. Agaricus subperonatus,
for example, is illustrated by 14 specimens from four collections, enabling
the author to show variations in colour, size, and form; Entoloma cetratum is
illustrated by more than 30 specimens from eight collections. All are clearly
cross-referenced to collection data in the text volume. Most of the watercolours
are painted from life – the result of extensive foraying going back at least 30
years. Some, however, are based on original or published photographs.
Surprisingly, no fewer than 33 new taxa (species, varieties, and forms) are
described in the text, with additional taxa (some as yet unnamed) provisionally
described. The author notes that several specialists, including A. Hausknecht
and M. E. Noordeloos, have been consulted – indeed some of the new Entoloma
taxa are jointly described with the latter author – but this still seems an awful
lot of novelties for a non-molecular study in a mycobiota that is comparatively
well-known. It might have been better to have published the new taxa in a peerreviewed
journal, particularly since the cost of these two volumes may put them
beyond the reach of many individual mycologists.
Despite (or perhaps because of) the high price tag, these are handsome
volumes, extremely well illustrated, and thoroughly documented. If you can
afford them, buy them. They will certainly bring you a great deal of pleasure.
Peter Roberts
Lower Penylan, Glasbury, Powys HR3 5NT, UK
Annotated list of polypores for the Iberian Peninsula and Balearic Islands. By
I. Melo, J. Cardoso & M.T. Telleria. 2007. J. Cramer in der Gebrüder Borntraeger
Verlagsbuchhandlung, D-14129 Berlin, Germany . Pp. 183,
figs 1. [Bibliotheca Mycologica no. 203.] ISBN 978-3-443-59105-2. Price 54 €.
This checklist embraces the names of all polypores reported from the region, but
is far more than a naked list. For each species, which are listed alphabetically,
information is given on places of publication of the names and synonyms,
the types, distribution down to the level of provinces, substrata (with tree
species named), and collections in the region holding material of the taxon.
There is also a substantial 44 pages of “bibliography surveyed” in compiling
the checklist in addition to eight of works cited, and a comprehensive index
by epithet. Sadly, the work is marred for me by a failure to understand the
bibliographic references and dates to be accorded to sanctioned fungal names.
For example, “Polyporus ulmarius Sowerby: Fr.” only has the reference to the
place of sanctioning, which is indicated as the basionym [!], and not to Sowerby’s
original publication, where the true basionym is to be found. Also, the use of
“in” in author citations does not follow the recent Codes. These may seem small
points, but it is a reality that errors in standard checklists become perpetuated