PREFACE 



In the year 1898, several local botanists who were interested 

 in the lower forms of plant life, organized the " Chicago Mycological 

 Society.' 7 Its purpose was the scientific study of the fungus 

 flora of the Chicago area. A division of labor was instituted, 

 each member selecting a group of plants for special investigation. 

 At the monthly meetings, papers were read and discussed, 

 and specimens brought in for study and comparison, while the 

 formation of individual herbaria and a system of card-indexing 

 have made the results of the work available for future use. 



The John Crerar Library has generously given the society 

 a room for its meetings (the location being more convenient 

 than that of the Academy) and has ever been ready to place upon 

 its shelves such literature as might be needed for the prosecution 

 of the work. 



Prior to the formation of the Mycological Society, no co- 

 operative effort had been made in the direction of the study of 

 the higher fungi of Chicago, and it is through the labors of these 

 self-constituted specialists aided by the broad spirit of the Crerar 

 Library that the preparation of this bulletin has been made pos- 

 sible. In furtherance of the work of the society the secretary 

 undertook the preparation of a descriptive card-index of all species 

 of the higher fungi reported from the United States. This was 

 found necessary for the reason that no manual of these plants 

 has yet been published in this country, and the descriptions of 

 our species must be sought in the transactions of scientific so- 

 cieties and botanical journals, or in many cases in the works of 

 English, French, German, Swedish and Italian authors. This 

 index, which contains nearly three thousand cards, has been of 

 great value in the determination of our species. 



In cases of doubt, specimens have been referred to Messrs. 

 Burt, McBride, Morgan, Peck, Lloyd or other specialists, while 

 the herbarium of Prof. E. T. Harper of our own society has been 

 useful in resolving perplexing problems, particularly in the 

 woody fungi. Through the zeal and enthusiasm of the latter 

 gentleman it has been possible to exhibit excellent photographs 

 of a number of our species. Acknowledgments are also due to 

 s. F. M. Woodruff and Grant Wyrick for the photographs 

 which bear their names. 



The arrangement of families and genera is that of Saccardo's 

 Sylloge. Where departure has been made from this by American 

 botanists, mention of the fact has been made in the text. 



It should be understood that this bulletin is only a preliminary 

 study, and is published at this time in order that students of the 

 mycology of the Chicago area may have a starting point for their- 

 own work. That it is far from complete, no one can be more 

 thoroughly aware than the writer. He, too, is to be held re- 

 sponsible for errors in determination, except in cases where credit 

 for the admission of a species is given to some other collector. 



W. S. M. 



