Catalogue of Fungi

...wayfinder in this science, to determine the place of my fungi accordingly, I was not pleased; and because I had already drafted various orders of fungi for myself, which differed somewhat from those already known, I preferred to confirm and define them with the help of the works of Micheli Pier Antonio Micheli (1679–1737), an Italian botanist who laid the foundations for the study of fungi. and Schäffer Jacob Christian Schäffer (1718–1790), a German mycologist known for his illustrations of fungi., and to furnish them with a list of species, adding the ones I found. I have therefore let this systematic attempt precede my illustrations so that one might better find which of my fungi are new and where they belong in a natural arrangement; so that the species I indicated might be distinguished from one another not merely by an indefinite narrative, but by clear determination and drawings; and that this labor of a beginner might contribute something useful to a science which can only hope for its perfection in later times. Those fungi which I was able to examine fresh and intact have been marked with asterisks in the Latin text. This was the general reasoning for the arrangement of this book, to which I still have to add a few things concerning my classification and illustrations, as well as the examination of fungi, and which I wish my readers may receive kindly, as I am conscious that in doing so, I have never forgotten the respect due to merit.

The confusion and inconsistency which is perceived in the knowledge of fungi seems to me to arise primarily from the fact that one rarely encounters good illustrations in writings of this kind, and very often descriptions which are not diligent and systematic enough, and are constructed more according to caprice than the requirements of the matter.