INTRODUCTION 



In preparing this study of American Clavarias my work has 

 been greatly facilitated by generous cooperation from many 

 sources. In American herbaria, Dr. W. A. Murrill at the N. Y. 

 Botanical Garden, Dr. H. D. House at the N. Y. State Museum, 

 Drs. Farlow and Thaxter at the Agassiz Museum, and Mrs. Flora 

 W. Patterson at the U. S. Dept of Agriculture have allowed the 

 free use of their material and supplemented my collections by many 

 gifts. In Europe I have been particularly befriended by Dr. 

 Lars Romell of Stockholm, who has recently acquired the very 

 valuable herbarium of the Abbe Bresadola and has not only al- 

 lowed me its free use but has also furnished much Swedish mate- 

 rial. Dr. H. O. Juel of Upsala has done the unusual favor of 

 sending me for study all the Clavarias at present contained in the 

 herbarium of Elias Fries. At Leyden Miss Catherine Cool, Cur- 

 ator in the Ryks Museum, placed the Persoon Herbarium at my 

 disposal and assisted me to a better understanding of Oude- 

 mans's species. In London Miss Wakefield at Kew Herbarium 

 has shown unfailing kindness for a number of years and has given 

 me valuable material of European and American origin. 



My collections have been accumulated through a number of 

 years with the help of many correspondents. Mr. S. H. Burnham 

 has sent much material from New York, both fresh and dried. 

 Miss Ann Hibbard from Vermont and Mr. H. C. Beardslee from 

 Asheville have furnished valuable collections and notes. Outside 

 of this state I have collected living material from Hudson Falls 

 (Vaughns), Lake George, and Bronx Park, N. Y. ; Redding, 

 Conn.; and Hartsville, S. C. Most of our North Carolina ma- 

 terial has come, of course, from Chapel Hill, a region very rich 

 in fungi of all kinds, and other members of the Botanical Depart- 

 ment staff have been of great assistance in collecting. During the 

 past August ( 1922) the author with Mr. H. R. Totten, Miss Alma 

 Holland, and Mr. J. N. Couch spent two weeks in Blowing Rock 

 and the neighboring mountains getting together a valuable lot of 



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