PREFACE 



THE present work has grown out of a monograph entitled 

 Myxomycetes of Eastern Iowa, published by the present author 

 about eight years ago. The original work was intended chiefly 

 for the use of the author's own pupils ; but interest in the 

 subject proved much wider than had been supposed, and a 

 rather large edition of that little work was speedily exhausted. 

 At that time literature on the subject in question literature 

 accessible to English readers --was scant indeed. Cooke's 

 translation of Rostafinski, in so far as concerned the species 

 of Great Britain, was practically all there was to be consulted 

 in English. 



In 1893 appeared in London Massee's Monograph of the 

 Myxogastres, and two years later in the same world's centre 

 the trustees of the British Museum brought out Lister's 

 Mycetozoa. Although these two English works both claim 

 revision of the entire group under discussion, the latter paying 

 special attention to American forms, nevertheless there still 

 seems place for a less pretentious volume which for American 

 students shall present succinct descriptions of North American 

 species only. The material basis of the present work consists 

 of collections now in the herbarium of the State University of 

 Iowa. In accumulating the material the author has had the 

 generous assistance of botanists in all parts of the country, 

 from Alaska to Panama, and the geographical distribution is 

 in most cases authenticated by specimens from the localities 

 named. The descriptions, in case of species represented in 

 Europe, are based upon those of European authors ; for forms 

 first described in this country, the original descriptions have 

 been consulted. A bibliography follows this preface. 



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