Description:After describing the debate about their proper taxonomic classification I will discuss their structure life cycle and the several orders into which they have been subdivided followed by a gallery of slides illustrating various species from each of those orders. I will also briefly mention how to preserve them for study and will list a number of references to consult for further information.

About John Dawson:John Dawson is Professor Emeritus of Mathematics at Penn State York. Mycology to which he was introduced in 1972 at a University of Michigan short course has long been a subject of interest to him and has become his principal avocation in retirement. Past president of the Eastern Penn Mushroomers he is especially interested in photographing microfungi. He is also a member of the New Jersey Mycological Association to whose bimonthly newsletter he has for the past thirteen years contributed a regular column ‘Who’s in a name?’ that profiles individuals commemorated in fungal eponyms. His wife Cheryl is also an active mushroomer and is especially interested in using mushrooms to dye yarn.