64 THE SAPROLEGNIACE^ OE THE UNITED STATES 



in 1881. I am also indebted to Prof. Roland Thaxter, of Harvard University, for 

 specimens from Mt. Washington ; and I owe to Mr. A. B. Seymour, of Harvard 

 University, references to the few published exsiccatce of this family and the exami- 

 nation of one of them. The others I have not been able to examine. 



While neither the amount of material examined, nor the variety of sources from 

 which it has been drawn, can justify any generalizations, they yet afford a basis for 

 some preliminary ideas concerning the distribution and relative abundance of some 

 of our species. The material has also been utilized, in part, for the study of several 

 questions relating to the morphology of the group, on which it is hoped to shed some 

 light. Physiological questions have not received the attention which they deserve, 

 and which it is hoped to give them in future studies. Their discussion is, therefore, 

 restricted as much as possible in the present paper, which is concerned chiefly with 

 the morphological and systematic aspects of the family. 



A pretty careful review of the literature has led to some conclusions concerning 

 the synonymy of certain species not yet known to be American which have not 

 jjreviously been suggested. Therefore, it has been thought worth while to include 

 in the systematic account of the family all published names, with an indication 

 of the standing of each, so far as it can be determined from available data. 



The appended bibliography makes no pretensions to completeness, but it is 

 believed to contain the titles of all works of present value, or of much historical 

 interest, relating to the morphology and classification of the SaproUgniacem, as well 

 as those of certain other papers which are quoted in the following pages. Papers 

 by American authors are marked with a dagger (f ). The titles of the few papers 

 included which I have not been able to examine are preceded by an asterisk (*). 

 For access to many of the remainder I am indebted to the various libraries in 

 Amherst, Boston and Cambridge, and to Prof. W. Gr. Farlow, of Harvard 

 University. Each of the works is cited in the body of the paper by its abbreviated 

 date, which is prefixed to its full title in the list. This method has the advantage of 

 doing away with cumbersome footnotes, and of giving, in the briefest possible form, 

 the date of the work with the reference to it. The last point is one of much con- 

 venience and economy in the citation of synonymy. 



