INTRODUCTORY NOTE. 



195 



near the District of Columbia; to Prof. Alfred Giard for the communication of several 

 important specimens as well as references to literature ; while the Rev. J. L. Zabriskie, 

 Mr. M. A. Barber, Dr. H. M. Richards, Mr. J. M. Aldrich, Mr. William Beutenmueller, 

 Prof. S. A. Forbes and Dr. G. von Istvanffi have also greatly assisted me by the com- 

 munication of numerous specimens. I am also indebted to the kindness of Miss Helen 

 Bondy, of Vienna, for a large number of house-flies collected in that city, from which 

 were derived the important series of specimens of Slvjmatomyces Baeri illustrated on 

 Plate I. Special acknowledgment is, moreover, due to Mr. Samuel Henshaw, to whom 

 I am indebted for the determination of the host insects, as well as for the privilege of 

 free access to the collections under his charge, including the type collection of the late 

 Dr. Leconte. 



In making these acknowledgments, I may add that it is my intention to continue 

 my studies of insect fungi as my opportunities permit ; and that the communication 

 of further material from correspondents, especially of Laboulbeniaceaa, will be greatly 

 appreciated. I may also add the hope that, the family being placed with the publi- 

 cation of the present monograph on a moderately intelligible basis, from a systematic 

 standpoint; it may not, like the other groups of entomogenous fungi, be reduced to a 

 condition of chaos through the indiscriminate publication of new forms based largely 

 on the character of the host or on its habitat ; since, as we shall presently see, these 

 are but uncertain guides in recognizing the species. 



« 



Cryptogamic Laboratory of Harvard University, 

 Cambridge, June, 1896. 



