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192c] 



BRIEFER ARTICLES 



157 



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averaging about 600 pages each and being provided with keys and 

 adequate indexes to genera, species, and hosts. With the publication 

 of vol. IV he found it necessary to have assistance, and in subsequent 



volumes Cuboni, Mancini, Berlese, DeToni, Ed. Fischer, Paoletti, 



and Trevisan collaborated. To carry out this plan, however, there 

 was first of all necessary a general system of classification, and the one 

 which he devised and used in the Sylloge has been followed in practically 

 all subsequent work in mycology. That it was a natural and perfectly 

 satisfactory one no one would affirm, but it was perhaps the best that 

 could be framed in the present state of knowledge of the Fungi, and 

 will probably remain in use as a practical, workable system until such 

 time as a more natural one can be devised. 



The completion of this work did not end Saccardo's labors. Myco- 

 logical activity, stimulated by the publication of the Sylloge, was such 

 that it quickly became necessary to issue supplementary volumes, the 

 first of which appeared in 1891, the last, a work of 1600 pages, bringing 

 the matter up to the end of 1910, in 1913. P. Sydow, Mussat, 

 D. Saccardo, Tra verso, and Trotter were collaborators in the prepara- 

 tion of these supplementary volumes, which included 2 volumes (2467 

 pages) of index to published figures of Fungi. The 22 volumes of the 

 Sylloge Fungorum constitute the working handbook of every mycologist. 



Saccardo was a good correspondent and a gracious one. Material 

 w r as sent to him from all quarters for determination, and he became the 

 court of last resort to many mycologists, and in this way as well as 

 through his publications he gave impetus to the study of Fungi. The 

 effect of his work illustrates again the fact that progress in botany, 

 as in other sciences, is based not only on brilliant research and broad 

 generalization, but also on a large amount of downright drudgery. 

 J. J. Davis, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin. 



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