PREFACE

Laurentius Viennensis referring to Josephus Nicolaus Laurenti, author of Specimen Medicum, Exhibens Synopsin Reptilium Emendatam (1768) did for the amphibians, I have constructed a new system of fungi, which a malignant critic would hardly harm, since my only intention was to communicate my thoughts for the pleasure of other investigators, and Linnaeus himself judges that the benefit of the art arises from the diversity of systems. I am well aware of how much is lacking in the perfection of my little work, and how much the years, the lack of support from others, and the defects of my own talent have hindered me in its refinement and beauty. I have enumerated the suborders and genera according to systematic laws, and I have attempted to avoid excessive brevity as well as overly diffuse speech. Nor could I add the synonyms of the authors, a labor which would certainly have been the most laborious of similar tasks, nor the provincial names, which are often quite confused and deceptive, due to the shortness of time, which also prohibited an exact delineation of the philosophy of the parts. I chose characters from illustrations, or from nature alone, or from both combined, and in the latter case, I secured them with a systematic form and a sufficient definition. I took notes from a fungus that was neither young nor old, and from the more frequent figure, which, since fungi are best investigated in the very place where many companions are born, are sufficient. Sometimes, in judging the pictures, the habitus general appearance/form had to reveal to me the condition of the surface and substance in the Schaeffer illustrations.