\/ \/ / /;/ iLS STl nn D 48 



Specimens as preserved iii most herbaria lack the necessary field 

 data for proper identification. Hence, our studies in this resped hav< 

 been mostly on the type specimens <»l species described 1>\ Atkinson, 

 ( loker, Kan li man. Murrill, and others. I be purpose ol such studies is to 

 obtain data on microscopic characters which was not included iii the 

 original description. 



Our own collections come from areas fairly well distributed over 

 the United States and a few are from southern Canada, since L925, .is 

 time permitted, Hesler lias collected agarics generally, and Hygro- 

 phorus in particular, in Tennessee and North Carolina, with more 

 limited field work in Virginia, Kentucky, Georgia, South Carolina, Vla- 

 bama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Florida. Smith's collections are nu- 

 merous from the Great Lakes region, from an area extending along a 

 line from Ann Arbor to the tip ol Whitefish Point in Lake Superior. 

 Work was also clone at Lake Timagami in Ontario. Canada, and at the 

 Petawawa Experimental Forest near Deep River, in company with Dr. 

 J. Walton Groves of the Canadian Department ot Agriculture. One sea- 

 son was spent in Nova Scotia and one 1 in the Adirondack Mountains ol 

 New York. His collections from the area west of the Great Plains con- 

 stitute most of what is known about the genus from the' western 

 United States. In this region the important areas worked intensively 

 are as follows: Priest Lake area, northern Idaho; central Idaho, south 

 of the Salmon River; Medicine Bow Mountains of Wyoming; Trout 

 Lake district, southwestern Colorado; the Mt. Baker National Forest 

 in northern Washington; both Mt. Rainier and the Olympic Moun- 

 tains National Parks; the Oregon and northern California coastal 

 areas; and the Grants Pass area in southwestern Oregon. An important 

 area not covered is the Coast Range south of San Francisco. 



We wish it clearly understood that we do not claim to have ex- 

 hausted the Hygrophorus flora of any area. We have approached the 

 problem on a sampling basis. Anyone with experience in field work on 

 agarics knows that about once in ten years, in most areas, a Fruiting ol 

 fungi occurs which may be considered truly "fabulous." and during 

 such a year one can still find species new to science in almost an\ 

 genus he decides to study. We had a few such years, as HMO in south- 

 ern Michigan, 1951 in northern Michigan, and H)4T in the \lt. Hood 

 National Forest, but for the most part only the usual "unusual" weather 

 conditions were encountered. Dry weather seriously handicapped our 

 efforts on a number of occasions, especially in the Southeast. 



A limited number of collections of European material have been 

 examined, but, though we both have visited in England and Hesler o i 

 the continent of Europe in addition, we ^\^ not claim to have made 



