CHAPTEE XXVI 



CENSUS OF FUNGI 



The estimated number of species in any department of natural 

 history, at any given time, is of passing interest, although 

 necessarily it is always changing, and must, to a great extent, 

 be only an estimate. It is a very long time since any estimate 

 of the number of described species of Fungi could have been 

 made upon an equally satisfactory basis to the present. This 

 is due to the recent publication by Professor Saccardo of a 

 Sylloge, which was presumed to contain an enumeration of 

 all species described up to date, and this Sylloge must there- 

 fore be taken as the basis of our calculations. 



The last previous attempt at a full enumeration of species 

 was that of Streinz' Nomenclator, dated 1862, in which the 

 total number of species was 11,893 ; and besides that we had 

 only vague estimates to guide us, such as that expressed by 

 De Bary in 1872, when he said, " It is no exaggerated estimate, 

 if we place the number of the species of living Fungi on an 

 equality with that of the floriferous plants, viz. about 150,000." 

 Probably his intention was not to include merely the described 

 species, which had been discovered, but to estimate the entire 

 number of species, known or unknown, which might be in 

 existence on the surface of the globe. After all, such an 

 estimate could only have the value of an individual opinion. 

 An estimate which we ventured to give in about 1872 placed 

 the number of known species at 20,000 ; whilst, some fifteen 

 years afterwards, we intimated an opinion that they must 

 approach to nearly double that number ; whereas a clear total, 

 according to Saccardo, on a determinate basis, is 40,000 up to 

 1892. It is interesting to revert to the opinions and estimates 



