EXPLANATION. 
From the time I was a mere lad Botany has afforded me my prin¬ 
cipal recreation. During the long years when it was necessary to de¬ 
vote most of my time to a commercial life in order to gain a livelihood, 
I found my chief pleasure to consist in studying and collecting plants. 
The larger part of my leisure time, my holidays, and, I suspect if the 
truth were told Sundays also, I roved the woods and studied vegetation. 
About ten years ago I became interested in Mycology. Prof. A. P. 
Morgan, of Preston, Ohio, gave me my first ideas on the subject. Then 
I began sending specimens to Prof. Ellis, who advised me regarding 
them, and then to Rev. G. Bresadola in Tirol, and to Prof. Patouillard 
of Paris. I shall always feel grateful to these gentlemen, for from 
them I gained a large part of what I know of the subject. To the 
great majority of persons Mycology is practically a closed book. This 
is not due to any inherent difficulty presented by the plants themselves, 
but to the condition of the literature. The bulk of that which is writ¬ 
ten on the subject is not sytematic but spasmodic. It seems to be 
history that when anyone takes up work w r ith these plants he finds so 
much that he cannot determine, so much that is new (to him), that the 
greater part of his publications are isolated descriptions of “new species.” 
I feel that the incentive to this new species work is largely egotism 
in order that the worker may add his name to the plant names—but I 
am told that I am “morbid” on that subject. However this may be. 
the result is that it is impossible in practice to determine the most of 
fungi from these descriptions. These plants are of wide distribution, 
and have been “described” and “named” over and over again, until 
the “literature” has become an almost unfathomable maze of meaning¬ 
less and conflicting names. To clear up this entanglement as far as 
possible, appears to me the most desirable feature of the work. And 
yet, the field is so vast that one man can cover but a very small part of 
it. I have been working on the Gastromycetes for four or five years, 
and have published the results as they appealed to me. This is an in¬ 
dex of the publications as far as the w 7 ork has gone. As it is desig¬ 
nated as “Vol. I”, the intention is evident that others are expected to 
follow. I feel now that it is no longer necessary for me to give my 
time to business, (due to the liberality of my business partners, my two 
brothers J. U. & N. A. Floyd) and can devote all my time to this w r ork 
from which I get my greatest pleasure. The probabilities are there¬ 
fore that no accident interfering in the future, the publication will 
proceed more rapidly. 
In this index will be found a list of “Synonyms and Juggled 
I do not claim that this is final nor that these names are 
buried for all time to come. “Synonyms” and to a large extent 
Juggled Names” are matters of individual opinion, and the next man 
to work over the field, undoubtedly will not agree with me in 
entirety. I hey are practically buried however, as far as my future 
\\".k is concerned, and as a large part of my past time has necessarily 
been engaged in their obsequies I have raised a little epitaph to their 
memory. 
May 1905 . C - Lloyd. 
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