276 University of California Puhlications in Botany [Vol.6 



one of the most valuable contributions which have been made to the 

 subject. Within recent years, Professor Oreste Mattirolo of the Uni- 

 versity of Turin, Italy ; Professor Edward Fischer of Bern, Switzer- 

 land ; Fedor Bucholtz; Professor Th. M. Fries of the University of 

 Upsala, Sweden, and others, have added to our knowledge of these 

 plants. 



All the studies mentioned, however, have been principally of Euro- 

 pean forms. In Fischer's review of the Tuberales for the Pflanzen- 

 familicn in 1897, only one species was reported from North America ; 

 and except for the work of Spegazzini in Argentina, and Harkness in 

 California, the hypogaeous fungi of the western hemisphere have been 

 quite neglected. The fact that they are little known in comparison 

 with those of Europe may be accounted for by the supposition that our 

 hypogaeous flora is less rich than that of the other continent ; but a 

 more reasonable explanation at present is, perhaps, that attention has 

 not been attracted to them by an overcrowded population necessitating 

 the utilization of every possible natural resource. In any case, mate- 

 rial is present in some quantity, for occasional specimens have been 

 reported from New York, Pennsylvania, Louisiana, Minnesota, and 

 Michigan, as well as California, and at least small collections are 

 known to have been made in various other parts of the United States. 

 Much of this material, however, has perhaps been picked up by acci- 

 dent, and no attempt, so far as known, has been made to assemble data 

 for a systematic account of the hypogaei of America. 



In 1899, a paper entitled "California Hypogaeous Fungi" was 

 published in the Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences 

 by Dr. H. W. Harkness, a retired physician living at the time in San 

 Francisco. He had long been interested in the neglected fungus flora 

 of the west, and had published, with Justin P. Moore, nine years previ- 

 ously, a catalog of the Pacific Coast fungi. The results of his scien- 

 tific labors appeared from time to time in Grevillea, the Bulletins and 

 Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences, and other journals. 



Harkness' paper dealing with the hypogaei was received with con- 

 siderable interest, since it was the first work of its kind in North 

 America. Unfortunately, however, no keys are included, and the de- 

 scriptions are so abbreviated that one who has not the privilege of 

 access to the type material finds the paper of little value in the placing 

 of unknown plants. In spite of this, much credit is due Dr. Harkness 

 for his pioneer work carried out under various difficulties, in collecting 

 and arranging the species so far as they were known at that time. 



