THE ANNALS 



AND 



MAGAZINE OF NATURAL HISTORY. 



No. 112. APRIL 1846. 



XXX. — Observations on the Tribe Sphseriacese, and descriptions 

 of certain new Gmera. By Prof. Giuseppe de Notaris, 

 Florence*, 1844. 4to. 



By means of tlie immortal works of Bulliard, Persoon, Fries, 

 Kunze, Nees, Greville and others, mycology has made of late 

 years surprising progress, although it still continues in some of 

 its parts very inferior to the other branches of cryptogamic bo- 

 tany. This arises, if I mistake not, from an opinion unfortunately 

 adopted by certain writers of authority, who have not hesitated 

 to assert, that microscopic observations instead of conducing to 

 happy results are prejudicial to the study of mycology, and are 

 the perpetual fountain of error and -confusion. This opinion I 

 not only hold to be false*, but even incompatible with the present 

 exigences of the human mind, which cannot content itself with 

 the superficial exterior of things, but delights in searching into 

 their most secret recesses. 



And what, in truth, was the study of Cryptogamia before the 

 compound microscope, thanks to the pains taken by the en- 

 lightened Amici, was brought to its present degree of perfection ? 

 The microscope has unveiled to us, not to speak of the surprising 

 discoveries in bryology, lichenology and algology, the various 

 ways in which fungi are reproduced, which, whether from the 

 singularity of their forms, their hidden mode of growth, or the 

 excessive minuteness of their parts, were the subject of very in- 

 sufficient observations. How mycology has advanced since the 

 late improvement in microscopic observations, the works of Vitta- 

 dini, Corda, Montague and Berkeley bear incontestable evidence. 



No one is ignorant that Persoon and Fries made the study 

 accessible by defining the limits of the families, properly descri- 

 bing the species, and laying the foundation of the natural system j 



* Translated from the Italian. Communicated by the Rev. M. J. Berkeley. 

 This memoir, which was first published as a separate pamphlet in 4 to, has 

 since appeared in ' Giornale Bot. Italiano,' edited by Parlatore. 



Ann. ^ Mag. N. Hist. Vol. xvii. ' R 



