ADDENDA 



a. This volume is as we see, a descriptive list of the various 

 forms of the Myxomycetes in so far as these have come to the per- 

 sonal notice of the writer. 



Each form is designated, as is usual in discussing objects of the 

 sort, by a particular binomial name, followed, in abbreviated form, 

 by the name of the student or author who in describing the form in 

 question used the combination. Thus Stemonitis splendens was first 

 described by Rostafinski, and the name he thus used is applicable to 

 the form he described, wherever found, and to nothing else. 



The proper naming of any specimen would thus appear to be a 

 very simple matter. Such, however, is often not the case, particu- 

 larly where we are concerned with species long familiar to science. 

 Such often have received, at different times, and at the hands of the 

 same author, or certainly of different authors, different names, given 

 for various reasons; so that one who would refer to, or discuss, a 

 single specimen to-day finds himself often in great uncertainty, con- 

 fronted by a multitude of binomial combinations all thought to refer 

 to the same particular thing. 



By general consent, of course, we strive to ascertain the oldest 

 name on the list; the first that is really and clearly applicable, and 

 we write all other names down as synonyms. In this volume a list 

 of synonyms often accompanies the description ; precedes it, showing, 

 year by year, the history of the case; an abstract in fact of the title, 

 as at last approved. The preparation of such an abstract is very 

 troublesome, but is believed to be worth the trouble; must be made, 

 indeed, if we are ever in our discussions to be sure that when we 

 speak or write in America, we are dealing with the same thing in- 

 tended by the man who speaks or writes in England, or elsewhere. 



The space occupied in synonymy, is therefore by no means wasted. 

 By and by, if we succeed in establishing a nomenclature on which 

 competent judges can agree, a thing not at all improbable, almost 



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