ELIAS FRIES. 35 



morphological imi3ortance of the different parts. It was received 

 with universal approbation, and became the foundation of a new 

 science. 



A great number of works on the different groups of Fungi and 

 the first part of his ' Systema Mycologicum ' (1821) came next. 

 Every summer he explored the woods in the southern part of 

 Sweden. In vain he longed to extend his excursions to foreign 

 countries, but his own resources were too small, and there was no 

 pubhc stipend to be had. But Fungi in great quantities were sent 

 him from foreign countries, and of some of these he gave descrip- 

 tions in his ' Elenchus Fungorum ' (1828). In 1828 he was at 

 length able to visit the northern part of Grermany and the museum 

 at Berlin, where he had opportunities of enlarging still more his 

 knowledge of lichens, of exotic Fungi, and of the literature of these 

 plants. During the following years he completed his ' Systema 

 Mycologicum,' (vol. iii., 1829), and having done this he subjected 

 the Fungi once more to a close investigation, comparing them with 

 his own descriptions. When they had been thus revised and 

 completed, the Discomycetes separated from the Hymenomycetes, &c., 

 the results of his observations were published in his * Flora 

 Scanica ' in 1835. When, m 1834, he changed his abode to 

 Upsala, Fries found new fields for mycological studies, and was as 

 indefatigable as before in his excursions. Working industriously 

 and making his researches most conscientiously, he wrote 

 ' Epicrisis Systematis Mycologici sen Synopsis Hymenomycetum,' 

 which was published in 1836 — 1838. He intended also to give a 

 new revision of the Ascomycetes with several hundi'ed determina- 

 tions of species, but this group of the Fungi not bemg much 

 esteemed by his contemporaries he never carried out his plans, 

 but continued his work at the Hymenomycetes, which were looked 

 upon with greater interest. 



In the year 1844 the Academy of Science in Stockholm 

 resolved to be at the expense of a series of engravings of all the 

 species of Fungi — principally belonging to Hymenomycetes — that 

 could not be preserved in a natural state, and gave the superin- 

 tendence and direction of this work to Fries. It was the fourth 

 time he had occasion to subject these Fungi to close observation. 

 The collection, containing now from 1600 to 1700 coloured 

 figures, is one of the richest and most extensive existing. Eleven 

 parts, with 110 plates, have been published, under the title 

 ' Icones selectae Hymenomj^cetum nondum delineatorum.' The 

 last large work of Fries was the ' Hymenomycetes Europaei sive 

 Epicriseos Systematis Mycologici editio altera,' published in 

 Upsala in 1874. 



He had also, at an early age, studied the Lichens not less 

 thoroughly, and he essentially reformed the descriptions and 

 systematic arrangement of these plants. His ' Lichenographia 

 Europaea reformata,' published in Lund, 1831, was for a long 

 time regarded as a principal work in lichenographical literature, 

 and the numerous fasciculi of his ' Lichenes exsiccati Sueciae ' form 

 one of the most valuable series in existence. 



