322 INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY OF FUNGI 



recent lists with old ones, although practically a considerable 

 increase is inevitable. 



The Phjjcomiicdes are interpreted now in a broader sense 

 than they were a few years ago, which renders comparison 

 with the older authors ditticult ; nevertheless we must accept 

 the 686 species which are included in the total of the Sylloge. 



We have still upwards of 10,000 species to deal w1!lh, 

 which belong to the imperfect Fungi, and these include 6865 

 which are classed under the Spliaeropsidcae and Melanconiae ; 

 and 4760 moulds or Hypliomycetes. Although these are sus- 

 pected to represent imperfect states of other Fungi, they must 

 retain a place as species until their affinities are determined. 

 Undoubtedly the number of these form-species has increased 

 enormously of late years ; they have always held a subsidiary 

 place in the estimation of mycologists. Certainly a combined 

 total of not less than 1400 species may be set down as British, 

 against 489, the total number recorded in the Handlool- for 

 1871, or nearly treble within about twenty years. 



Whatever position posterity may assign to the Microbes, 

 they cannot be excluded from our census. Hence we have a 

 record of no less than 689 species of Saccharomycetes and 

 Schizomycetes, otherwise known as yeast Fungi and Bacteria, 

 which are absolutely the growth of the past few years. There 

 are some who are ready to contend that the bacteria are all, or 

 nearly all, simply the modifications of a single species ; but 

 there is such a thing as rushing to extremes, so that whilst we 

 may cherish the belief that more experience and closer observa- 

 tion will tend rather to diminish than increase the number, 

 we must accept the total as it stands. There are no standards 

 for comparison that are twenty years old, and in Britain the 

 first attempt to construct a synopsis was not made until 1884, 

 and even in this the indigenous species are not indicated. 



Finally, the slime Fungi, or Myxomycetes, have to be 

 included, for we do not hesitate to regard them as more 

 closely related to Fungi than to anything else, and of these 

 there are 450 species. They do not increase so rapidly in 

 numbers as some other groups, and we have a very good 

 standard of comparison in Eostafinski's Monograph of 1875, 

 which enumerated 178 species. Of these no less than 100 



