2 MICEOSCOPIC FUNGI. 



ance). It would be incompatible witb our object,, 

 and beyond our limits^ to introduce an entire 

 mycological flora to our readers in these pages; 

 but we hope to communicate such information as 

 will serve to prepare the way still more for such 

 an additional Flora^ should it ever be produced^ 

 and render the demand still wider and more 

 general for such an extension of our botanical 

 literature. It is true that one work has of late 

 years issued from the press on this subject, but 

 notwithstanding its utility to scientific men as a 

 record of species, it is practically useless to those 

 we address, from the absence of all specific descrip- 

 tions of microscopic fungi. 



Let not the reader imagine, from what we have 

 just stated, that it is our intention to burden him 

 with a dry series of botanical descriptions ; as much 

 of this as we deem essential to render the book 

 available to the botanical student, we have pre- 

 ferred to add in the form of an Appendix. Useful 

 as these may be to some, we hope to be en- 

 abled to furnish for others something more ; and 

 although we at once disclaim any intention of 

 including all the microscopic, or even the epiphytal 

 fungi, in our observations, yet we trust, by a selec- 

 tion of common and typical species for illustration, 

 and by an adherence to certain well-defined groups 

 and sections, to demonstrate that the microscopist 

 will find an eligible field for his observations in 

 this direction, and the botanical student may gain 



