Abstract
The amateur's role in the history of mycology will be traced from its early roots deeply based in the collection of fungi for food to the amateur's present day activities. Attention will be drawn to the most important key amateur figures studying fungi solely or as a wider part of natural history in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and the early part of the present century. How their work influenced the development of mycology will be demonstrated. It is often forgotten that the authorities attached to fungal names, including those we use in mycology on a daily basis, often belong to amateurs. The true professions of these amateurs, the net-work of correspondents they developed, etc. will be revealed and discussed in the context of an overall understanding of fungi as organisms. In addition the formation of mycological societies, and how they have become a focus of amateur activity and a source of accurate and disciplined information valuable to professional scientists will be plotted. The kind of work undertaken by amateurs I refer to will be demonstrated by documenting the activities of the British Mycological Society which celebrated its centenary in 1996. The continuing work of this band of workers and their counterparts throughout the world in the closing years of the millennium will be described. It is argued that they are nationally important and necessary resources, despite many governments or their advisers, especially the most influential ones, being under the delusion that systematics is not cutting edge science. It is also emphasized that amateurs will have an even more important role to play in the future as custodians of knowledge—until hopefully opinions change.
Similar content being viewed by others
Literature cited
Anonymous. 1994. Les Livre d'or du Centenaire. Bull. Soc. Mycol. Fr.100.
Bataille, F. 1948. Les reactions macrochimique chez les champignons. Bull. Soc. Mycol. Fr.63, Suppl.: 1–172.
Bolton, J. 1788–1791. An history of fungusses growing about Halifax, vols. 1–3 and Suppl. Huddersfield.
Bramley, W. G. 1985. A fungus flora of Yorkshire. University of Leeds, Leeds.
Clark, M. C. 1980. A fungus flora of Warwickshire. Br. Mycol. Soc., Cambridge, U.K.
Cleland, J. D. 1934–35. Toadstools and mushrooms and other larger fungi of South Australia, parts 1 and 2. Govt. Printer, Adelaide.
Coates, H. 1923. A Perthshire naturalist. Charles MacIntosh of Inver. Unwin, London.
Coppins, B. J. and Watling, R. 1995. Lichenized and nonlichenized fungi: folklore or fact. Bot. J. Scotland47: 249–262.
Corner, E. J. H. 1990. His Majesty Emperor Hirohito of Japan, K.G. 29 April 1901–7 January 1989. Elected F.R.S. 1971. Bio. Mem. Fell. Roy. Soc.36: x-xxv.
Donk, M. A. 1949. Nomenclatural notes on generic names of agarics (Fungi: Agaricales). Bull. Bot. Gard. Buitenzorg, Ser. III,17: 271–402.
Eckblad, F.-E., 1996. Mykologiens historie i Norge. Ås, Soppkonsulenten.
Estey, R. H. 1994. A history of mycology in Canada. Can. J. Bot.72: 751–766.
Fries, E. M. 1821. Systema mycologicum. Uppsala.
Hawksworth, D. 1991. The fungal dimension of biodiversity, magnitude, significance and conservation. Mycol. Res.95: 641–655.
Kanouse, B. B. 1943. Doctor Howard Atwood Kelly. Mycologia35: 383–386
Knighton, H. 1985. NAMA XXV. N. Amer. Mycol. Assoc. Inc., Illinois.
Lange, L. 1974. The distribution of macromycetes in Europe. Dansk Bot. Arkiv.30: 1–105.
May, T. W. and Pascoe, I. G. 1997. History of the taxonomic study of Australian fungi. In: Fungi of Australia, vol. 1A, (ed. by Grgurinovic, C. and Mallett, K.), pp. 171–206. ABRS/CSIRO, Australia.
McIlvaine, C. and Macadam, R. K. 1902. Toadstools, mushrooms, fungi/edible/poisonous/one thousand American fungi. Bobbs-Merrill, Indianapolis.
Métrod, G. 1949. Prodrome à une flore mycologique de Madagascar et Dépendances III, Les Mycènes de Madagascar, pp. 1–146. Lab. Crypt. Nat. Hist. Museum, Paris.
Noble, M. 1981. Beatrix Potter: Mycologist and biorecorder. Scott. Wildlife17: 15–18.
Orton, P. D. 1960. New check list of British agarics and boleti. Part III. Trans. Br. Mycol. Soc.43: 159–439.
Parbery, I. H. and Sheather, W. H. 1990. Aspects of Australian mycology 1800–1900. In: History of systematic botany in Australasia, (ed. by Short, P. S.), pp. 253–258. Aust. Syst. Bot. Soc., Canberra.
Pearson, A. A. 1950. Cape agarics and boleti. Trans. Br. Mycol. Soc.33: 276–314.
Rea, C. 1922. British Basidiomycetae. Cambridge, U.K.
Reijnders, A. F. M. 1963. Les problemès du développement des carpophores des Agaricales et de quelques groupes voisins. Junk, Den Haag.
Rogers, J. 1977. A brief history of mycology in North America. Amherst, Massachusetts.
Rogers, J. 1981. A brief history of mycology in North America. Augmented edition. 50th Anniversary of the Mycological Society, U.S.A. Harvard Univ., Massachusetts.
Sutton, B. J. (ed.). 1996. A century of mycology. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, U.K.
Wasson, V. P. and Wasson, R. G. 1957. Russia, mushrooms and history. Panthenon Books, New York.
Watling, R. 1986. Presidential address. 150 years of paddock stools: A history of agaric ecology and floristics in Scotland. Trans. Bot. Soc. Edinburgh48: 1–42.
Watling, R. 1996. The amateur contribution within the Society. In: A century of mycology, (ed. by Sutton, B. C.), pp. 81–103. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, U.K.
Watling, R. and Seaward, M. J. D. 1981. James Bolton: Mycological pioneer. Arch. Nat. Hist.10: 89–110.
Webster, J. 1997. Presidential address 1996. The British Mycological Society, 1896–1996. Mycol. Res.101: 1153–1178.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
The essential points of this paper were addressed to the 42nd Annual Meeting of the Mycological Society of Japan held at Kyoto University, Kyoto, on 16–17, May 1998.
About this article
Cite this article
Watling, R. The role of the amateur in mycology—what would we do without them!. Mycoscience 39, 513–522 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02460913
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02460913