PREFACE. 



I PUBLISHED a work in the year 1866 entitled Morphology and Physiology 

 of the Fungi, Lichens and Myxomycetes as the second volume of Hofmeister's 

 Handbook of Physiological Botany. This work was intended to give a systematic 

 and critical account of the state of our knowledge of the portions of natural history 

 indicated by the title at that time. It had its mistakes and its deficients ; the index 

 too was omitted, but for this I was not responsible. At the same time it was 

 not without its value; it paved the way for further advances and was favourably 

 received. 



Some years ago I was urged by many persons to prepare a new edition of my 

 work. Other occupations and duties long prevented me from setting about this task 

 and interrupted and delayed it repeatedly after it had been begun ; and when 

 I addressed myself more closely to the work some four years ago, it soon became 

 apparent that a new edition in the strict sense of the word would not satisfy modern 

 requirements. Hence the progress of the work resulted in the production of a new 

 book, which can only be partially regarded as a new edition of the earlier one, though 

 this for brevity's sake is always cited in the present work as the first edition, 



The reasons for the change had their origin in the considerable additions to the 

 material to be discussed. Eighteen years ago it was comparatively easy to give 

 a detailed description of the state of our knowledge of the morphology and physiology 

 of the Fungi within a moderate compass. Since that time the amount of matter has 

 increased greatly, and with it the number of questions and controverted points which 

 have to be considered ; an account which is not to be confined within the narrow 

 limits of a text-book readily assumes large proportions and renders division of labour 

 desirable. 



The physiology of the Fungi has received more comprehensive treatment than 

 the morphology, partly in general treatises on vegetable physiology, those especially 

 of Sachs and Pfeffer, and partly in the extensive modern literature of the chemistry 

 of fermentation. There is no recent detailed critical survey of their morphology; 

 in giving such a survey in the following pages, with brief allusions only to strictly 

 physiological topics, I believe that I shall best meet both present requirements and 

 the wishes of most of my readers. 



No comprehensive account of the morphology of any portion of the vegetable 

 kingdom, and least of all of the Fungi, can be satisfactory without constant reference 

 to the phenomena known as biological, that is to their habits of life and adaptations. 



