198 



Mycologia 



Distribution of Curtis' Specimens of Fungi 



Berkeley was of course Curtis' most constant and most valued 

 mycological correspondent and collaborator and to him duplicates 

 of most of his collections of fungi as well as those from 

 Michener/^ Ravenel and others were sent. These are preserved 

 in the herbarium of the Royal Botanic Garden, Kew, together 

 with Curtis' manuscript lists, with his notes and comments of the 

 fungi he sent to Berkeley. As suggested in the letters to Tucker- 

 man printed above, and in letters to Berkeley published earlier 

 (i8, p. 335), Curtis sent many of his own collections as well as 

 some duplicates of the fragments he took from the Schweinitz 

 herbarium to Fries ; all these are at Upsala. Among the Amer- 

 ican correspondents to whom Curtis sent specimens in exchange, 

 Ravenel and Michener are known to have received large numbers 

 of fungi. His correspondence with Ravenel began early (about 

 1835?) and continued until Curtis' death. In 1868, he wrote as 

 follows concerning their relations 



" P. S. I enclose a few specimens lately sent for determina- 

 tion from Mr. Ravenel of S. C. He has a prior claim over all 

 others, & the examination of his specimens has interfered 

 somewhat with that of yours." 



Ravenel's herbarium is now in the British Museum, and 

 Michener's in the Pathological and Mycological Collections of the 

 United States Department of Agriculture (19, p. 556). In 1857 

 Curtis presented to the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences 

 a collection of nearly eight hundred species of fungi. These were 

 mounted by Doctor Michener (19, p. 555 ). 



About two years before his death, which occurred on the loth 

 of April, 1872, Curtis determined to dispose of his duplicate 

 specimens of fungi. Concerning this matter he writes Howe as 

 follows : 



11 Cvirtis correspondence and exchange of fungi with Michener evidently 

 began some time before 1855. Some fragments of it have already been pub- 

 lished by the v^riters (18, pp. 548-49). 



12 Letter from Curtis to Howe dated Hillsborough, N. C, May 29, 1868. 



