History of the Fungi of the Kingdom of Naples

It does not escape me, however, that the labors of one person are not sufficient to display the many riches of our natural history. This is especially true today, when the diligence of modern scholars has resulted in the realization that some plants, even from the family of Lichenes lichens and other related kinds, were mistakenly held to be fungi, and that the defects of so many parts of plants—abandoning those various theories that credulous antiquity held—are now understood to originate from these same parasites. These new parasitic races, uncovered with the help of microscopes and more recent industry, establish various morbid conditions within them under a monstrous configuration, owing to corrupted juices and the pathways of nourishment of those parts from which they demand both a seat and a living. It is no wonder, then, if the census of fungi is happily increased day by day by a new crop. For this reason, in illustrating this part of Botany, which adorns our native soil sufficiently everywhere, so that the strength of one mind might not be overwhelmed by a heavy burden, I did not think it unwise to offer You all the species already known, even those living among us, in a separate list. And now, so that our riches may be better revealed—as a prelude to this work, which certainly demands a great duration of time, and so that I do not delay your desires any longer—it will be worth the effort, insofar as my own mental capacity allows, to bring forth the rare, describe the new, and illustrate the uncertain. These will certainly be available for the advancement of science and for preparing a more profound history of this part of our herbal study. Having briefly proposed these things, I proceed to the method of this work, regarding which a few things must be prefaced now.

I shall strive to divide all these more noteworthy cryptogamas plants with hidden reproductive organs that occur throughout our regions into as many specimens, each of which will contain twelve...