No. 523] 



THE " SPECIES PL ANT ARUM » 



389 



The fungi offer a better field for comparison than 

 other groups. It is certainly true that the number of de- 

 scribed species is decidedly smaller than that of phamo- 

 gams. Are we then to conclude that there are fewer 

 fungi in the world than there are phamogams? By no 

 means, for there is a possible inference which may be 

 drawn from a knowledge of the distribution of fungi to 

 which, it seems to me, great weight should be given. 

 Year by year the number of known parasitic fungi goes 

 on increasing and, although we can not assume that prob- 

 ably every pha?nogam has its parasite, the proportion 

 which have is constantly increasing. YYc also know that 

 some species have not only one but many parasites and, 

 as a rule, the species which from their economic value 

 have been most carefully studied are the hosts of many 

 fungi. As an instance I may mention the species of the 

 genus Vitis, on which several hundred species of fungi 

 are known to grow, some, to be sure, found also on other 

 plants, but a large number peculiar to this genus. 

 When all genera have been studied as carefully as Vitis 

 we shall undoubtedly find that the number of parasitic 

 fungi in existence is enormous. If to the parasitic we add 

 the thousands of saprophytic fungi, it may well be asked 

 whether eventually it will not prove to be true that the 

 number of species of fungi is as great as that of phaeno- 

 gams. It seems to me that it should be plain to every one 

 that if in the "Species Plantarum" the proportion of 

 pha-nogams to cryptogams is about ten to one, we must 

 admit that although the work is sufficiently comprehen- 

 sive to serve as a basis for the nomenclature of the 

 former, it is entirely inadequate in the case of the latter. 



I have referred to the restricted range of the species 

 of cryptogams described by Linmrus and to their small 

 number. If we go farther and examine the character of 

 the descriptions themselves we find that they are in many 

 cases vague and unintelligible, which is nothing more 

 than might have been expected in that day before the 

 scientific studv of the group had really begun. The Algae 



