Catalogue of Fungi

...are present, cannot in any way be brought under the species of the great describer of plants. If I am mistaken, then the knight Bäck expressly mentioned this matter in his memorial speech on Linnaeus, and he believes that many naturalists would miss many fungi among the Linnaean species that are actually contained therein, and that therefore much that was long known to Linnaeus would be announced as newly discovered. However, as much as I would like to believe this, I still doubt that the matter is so, and that I will be able to convince myself of this. For these reasons, I have attempted to draft a new system of fungi in the same way, although perhaps less successfully, as Laurent from Vienna (Synopsis Reptilium Viennae 1768) did with the amphibians; and I believe that I have little detriment to fear from unfair judges in this matter, since it is solely my purpose to communicate my observations to other naturalists for their pleasure, and since Linnaeus himself holds that the elaboration of different systems redounds to the benefit of science. I see quite well how much this book lacks to be something perfect, and how much, moreover, the lack of years, support, and strength has hindered me in the finer elaboration and beautification of it. I have presented the suborders and genera according to systematic prescriptions, and in general, I have sought to avoid both excessive brevity and wordiness. I have not been able to add the names of the authors nor those of the inhabitants for lack of time, as the former would have been one of the most difficult, and the latter one of the most unreliable and confused works of its kind. Also, I did not have enough time to provide an exact exposition and determination of the parts of the fungus body, and other...