in the specimens of Fries’ herbarium, which are all marked ‘‘Ex herb. 
Elias Fries". There are very few specimens there now that Fries had 
when he wrote his “Systema". In his early days Fries evidently took 
very little care of his specimens, and the “types” of many of Fries’ 
species of Gastromycetes do not exist. The truth is that Fries’ work 
on the Gastromycetes in “Systema" was chiefly made up from publica¬ 
tions and not from his plants. This is evident also from his work, for 
he states at that time he had only collected three species of Geaster, 
and his descriptions contain many errors that he drew from inaccurate 
figures. I do not know but that this is fortunate for most of Fries’ 
“types" are the figures that he cites and these figures can be as accu¬ 
rately known today as when the species were described. The greater 
part of the specimens in Fries’ herbarium today are specimens sent to 
him after the publication of his work, specimens named from his work 
by his correspondents and sent to him and placed in his herbarium as 
received. They ure badly misnamed according to Fries’ own publica¬ 
tions, but I do not feel that Fries should be held responsible for the 
errors of his correspondents, though of course putting them in his 
collection without correction in a manner endorsed the determinations. 
After the appearance of his “Systema” (1829), Fries apparently paid 
no further attention to the Gastromycetes but devoted his whole time 
to the Agarics. 
UNFINISHED WORK. 
The objects of our trip to Sweden were not fully accomplished. 
While in Washington we were solicited by a lover of the moss famhy to 
hunt up when we reached Sweden a certain Swedish gentleman who is 
playing havoc with the moss names by some system of name juggling 
and to murder him in the interest of science. We regret that oppor¬ 
tunity did not present to carry out this laudable design. 
263—UN FESTIN MYCOLOGIQUE. 
Ee 20 Juin dernier, se trouvaient reunis, autour de la table 
hospitaliere de M. Rolland,a Neuilly: MM. N. Patouillard, E. Boudier, 
notre aimable liote et 1’auteur. 
Ce flit un festin vraiment mycologique. Des champignons 
ayant ete servis, la conversation tomba naturellement sur ces crypto- 
games. J’eprouvai un grand plaisir a entendre discuter MM. Patouil¬ 
lard et Boudier. II n’y a pas d’hommes en France, et peut-etre dans 
le monde entier, qui connaissent ce sujet aussi a fond que ces messieurs. 
Ce sera pour moi un souvenir charmant, que ce diner mycolo¬ 
gique cliez M. Rolland. 
267—N. PATOUILLARD AND P. HARIOT. 
I have seen a great deal of both these gentlemen during my five 
months in Paris, and they are both men whom the better you know 
the better you like. Both have been unusually kind to me and both 
have learned to comprehend my spoken French, for be it known that I 
speak a French largely my own, and it is not every Frenchman who 
knows his own language as I speak it. It was nevertheless a great 
gratification when I became able to converse freely with them. 
* . 163 
