No. 523] 



THE " SPECIES PL ANT ARUM " 



393 



"Hymenomycetes Furopa?i," 1874, we have important 

 revisions and commentaries by Fries of his earlier work. 

 The "Icones Selectae Hymenomycetum ' ' include 200 

 plates executed under his supervision of species which 

 cannot well be studied by dried specimens alone. The 

 herbarium of Fries is still at Upsala and the "Sclero- 

 myceti Leuciae," a collection of 450 small parasitic 

 species, is to be found in herbaria in Europe and this 

 country and has been the subject of critical commentaries 

 by several botanists. The fact that the volumes of the 

 "Systema" did not appear in the same year does not 

 appear to me to present a serious practical difficulty, as 

 Volume I containing 1 iymenomycetes appeared in 1821 

 (except Solemn, Ci/phcUa and the Tremellinea?, in Vol. 

 II, 1822), Volume II, section 1, with Discomycetes ap- 

 peared in 1822, Volume II, section 2 (p. 275), with Gas- 

 teromycetes ( Angiogastcrs) and Pyrenomycetes in 1823, 

 Volume III, sectio prior with (Jasteromycetes. Mvx<> 

 mycetes and Perisporiacea? in 1829, and Vol. III. sectio 

 posterior (p. 261), with Fungi Imperfecta in 1832. 



The "Synopsis" of Persoon, although to he preferred 

 to any previous work, is considerably less extensive in 

 the number and range of the species given than the 

 "Systema," the number in the latter being about two 

 and a hall' times as great and. in general, the "Systema" 

 presents a decidedly more modern way of treating the 

 group. A fuller consideration of the comparative merits 

 of the "Systema" is out of the question in this place as 

 it would require more time than can be allowed and be- 

 cause the details are such that they could not be readily 

 followed except by mycologists who have studied the 

 question minutely. I have no right to encroach further 

 on your patience and need only, in conclusion, repeat that 



