PREFACE ON FUNGI.

It is truly a difficult task to treat accurately that part of Botany which is inscribed ON FUNGI; hence it happens very often that fungi are either neglected by the family of botanists, or are not treated with much accuracy. For since fungi are both numberless, and, in the manner of other plants, distinct species of fungi are found in different regions of the globe, and since they can be preserved with more difficulty than others, so that observations and comparisons may be instituted: from this it happens that, with the diligence and life of men deceived, either very little is committed to type regarding them, or what is committed is poorly digested. I know indeed that I have very often had in my hands the books of those who had written about fungi, in which I found the work in almost all cases either maimed or nearly useless. In some, only the names of the fungi appear, yet descriptions are missing, or the plates are missing. And who does not see that such a work is entirely useless to a lover of botany? I have found other writers on this subject, most famous among botanists, whose plates, being drawn in an inelegant style, present unadorned diagrams, which, as everyone sees, causes inconvenience and doubt for the students. I have likewise stumbled upon others whose plates, engraved with excessive and gaudy elegance, generally mock the inelegance of the fungi and leave the student uncertain. Furthermore, I find even greater things in such books: an enormous number of names for fungi, so poorly conceived that it exceeds the manner of nomenclature by the length of the words, and is less than sufficient for a definition. Finally, that will always be less approved by me: to wish to institute general treatises on fungi, when the fungus-bearing soil is enclosed by one sky—whether Italian, or German, or English, etc.—and when each region and province can present its own peculiar fungi. And this was the cause why we gave this little work of ours the title, History of the Fungi of the Rimini Territory. Those who are even moderately versed in the books of botanists recognize how I have harvested them, having placed signs in place of the name. Therefore, we will take diligent care that our readers will not at all encounter that which we hold as a fault in others.

Here it is worth the effort to say something about the generation of fungi, and indeed the most kind reader demands it from us, as is their right, based on our observations and meditations. It is truly difficult to define the generation of fungi, whether it should be traced from putrefaction or from a properly elaborated seed. Often I have read and reread the opinions of botanists...