INTRODUCTORY XOTE. 
195 
near the District of Columbia; to Prof. Alfred Giard for (he communlcatioii of 8cvcr;il 
mportant specimens as well as ref 
Avhil 
c 
liev. J. L / 
Mr. M. A. Barber, Dr. II. M. Richards, :\rr. J. M. Aldrich, Mr. William IJ.'uicimniolIrr, 
Prof. S. A. Forbes and Dr. G. von Istvanffi have also great Ij- M--Is(cd mc hj llie com- 
munication of numerous specimens. I am also indebted to tlie kliidiic-s of Miss ITclcn 
Bondy, of Vienna, for a large number of house-iiies collected in that cilj, fiom which 
were derived the important series of specimens of Stijntdiomyccs Bam 
Plate I. Special acknowledgment is, moreover, due to Mr. Samuel lien 
I am indebted for the determination of the host insects, n< well as for < 
1 
til on 
ic privilege of 
free access to the collections under his charge, including the type collection of the late 
Dr. Leconte. 
In making these acknowledgments, T may add that it is my intcuflon to condnuc 
my studies of insect fungi as my opportunities permit j and (liit the commiinIcatIi)ii 
of further material from correspondents, especially of Laboulbeniace;e, will bo greatly 
appreciated. I may also add the hope that, the family being placed with the publi- 
cation of the present monograph on a moderately intelligible basis, frnm n systcmntic 
standpoint; it may not, like the other groups of entomogenous fungi, be reduced to a 
condition of chaos through the indiscriminate pubHcation of new forms based largely 
on the character of the host or on its habitat ; since, as we shall presently sec, these 
are but uncertain guides in recognizing the species. * 
Cryptogamic Laboratory of Harvard Umvkusiti', 
Cambridge, June, 1896. 
% 
