Mycological Writings oj Theodor Holmskjold, Etc. 141 



THE MYCOLOGICAL WRITINGS OF THEODOR HOLMS- 

 KJOLD AND THEIR RELATION TO 

 PERSOON'S COMMENTATIO. 



ELIAS J. DURAND. 



The writer has had occasion recently to gather information 

 concerning the writings of Theodor Holmskjold and their rela- 

 tion to Persoon's Commentatio de fungis clavaeformibus. The 

 desired facts were finally obtained with some difficulty, and tlien 

 only after considerable time had been spent in looking through 

 literature in several libraries. Some of the publications con- 

 sulted are r: :-e in x^merican collections, and there is reason to 

 believe that 'liey are not common in those of Europe. Since 

 the facts ob- 'ned have already been found to be of value to 

 several work- s it seems desirable to put them on record in the 

 hope that the may be of interest to some other mycologists. 



Theodor Holm, or Holmskjold, to give him his title of 

 nobility, was born in Nyborg, Denmark, June 14, 1732, and died 

 at Copenhagen, September 14, 1794. His only important mycol- 

 ogical work was a volume published at Copenhagen, in 1790. 

 I have not seen a copy of this first edition, but according to 

 Persoon it bore the title : Beata ruris Fungis danicis a Thcodoro 

 Holmskjold impensa. There is every reason to believe that it 

 bore also the secondary title "Coryphaei clavarias ramariasque 

 complectentes cum brevi structurae interioris expositione." It 

 was in folio form with 118 pages of text in both Danish and 

 Latin in parallel columns, and accompanied by 33 plates in color 

 with elaborate explanation. Since the volume was issued for 

 private circulation only and was not offered for sale very few 

 copies came into the hands of the public. At the death of the 

 author distribution ceased entirely. This work was regarded as 

 of great value by Persoon, and was regularly referred to by him 

 as "Holiusk. Coryph." , but mention of it is not common in the 

 writings of other authors. 



Holmskj old's work was first made generally accessible in 

 1795 when the latin text was printed in Usteri's Annalen der 

 Botanik of which it constituted pages 30-149 of Stuck 17. This 

 article bore the title Coryphaei, etc., as above. This and the 

 next were in octavo form. 



Two years later, in 1797, Persoon published in separate form 

 a new edition of Holmskjold's work under the following title: 

 "Coryphaei clavarias ramariasque complectentes cum brevi struc- 

 turae interioris expositione auctore Theodoro Holmskiold. 

 Denuo cum adnotationibus editi nee non commentatione de 

 fungis clavaeformibus aucti a C. H. Persoon." There were 239 

 pages illustrated by 4 colored plates. Pages 1-119 of this volume 



