The North American species of Psathyrella.

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MEMOIRS OF THE NEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN

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a unique geological area in Michigan, have been preserved in their natural state
far better than the state parks and recreation areas which generally suffer more
and more each year from over-use and over-development. Through the facilities
developed by the Foundation on their Ives Lake property, the area is open to
biologists with approved research projects. The study of the Michigan mushrooms
has profited handsomely from this arrangement over the last five years.
The system of state forests, state parks and recreation areas, administered
through the Department of Natural Resources, has furnished areas for study.
It is hoped that the relatively "wild" condition of these areas can be maintained
for they offer a great deal to the natural history hobbyist as well as to the
professional biologist.
The U. S. Forest Service has been of great help in all areas where I have
collected and they have holdings. It has been the helpfulness of the men in the
field-local supervisors and rangers, who have contributed so much on a day-today basis simply because they had such accurate firsthand knowledge of the
vegetation and terrain of their respective forests. However, in addition to this
work-a-day type of assistance, the Service, through its research branch as
represented by the Forest and Range Experiment Stations, has furnished living
and laboratory facilities for my studies as a means of encouraging and developing
a better understanding of forest and range fungi in the major ecosystems under
their jurisdiction. In this connection I wish to acknowledge with pleasure the
assistance received from the Intermountain Forest and Range Experiment Station,
Mr. Joseph F. Pechanec, former Director, and Mr. Robert W. Harris, present
Director, in the form of facilities furnished at the Priest River Experimental
Forest, Priest River, Idaho. The Priest River Experimental Forest itself is an
excellent area for fleshy fungi, and in addition is so located that one has relatively
easy access to the entire Priest Lake district. This area has become my major
sampling area for the northern Rocky Mountains in connection with my forthcoming flora, and it has been an exceptionally fine area for Psathyrella.
The second station of note in connection with the present project is the
Cascade Head Experimental Forest near Otis, Oregon, on the Oregon coast.
This unit is administered by the Pacific Northwest Forest and Range Experiment
Station U. S. D. A. Forest Service, Mr. Philip Briegleb, Director, and it furnished
a series of fungous habitats quite different from those around Priest Lake
in spite of some similarities between the two in the major elements of the
vegetation.
The National Park Service has also been most helpful, in fact Mt. Rainier
National Park and the Olympic National Park represent my two most important
stations in Washington. An effort has been made to designate collections from
these areas as the types of new species on the assumption that the habitats there
are less disturbed than in other areas and are likely to remain so.
Many individuals, professional biologists and otherwise, have made significant
contributions of materials to the project. Many of these people have new species
named after them as an acknowledgment of their interest and effort. Since
descriptive terms as used for Psathyrella species can nearly always be aptly
applied to a number of species, they do not seem to me to be very effective as
species epithets. By using the names of collectors, at least some historical element
is introduced. To all of those who have sent me specimens-whether or not
they ever received identifications-I take this opportunity to express my thanks
for their effort.
In some regions it is almost impossible to plan to collect fungi because the