Page:A memoir of Lewis David von Schweinitz.djvu/38

Rh himself in America, and that besides what Fries had incorporated in his general abridgement, the new species amounted to 112, making the whole number then known, 640; that the whole number of American fungi, then observed, (1825,) fell little short of 2000. He adds, "I am fully persuaded, as many more remain undiscovered. Our immense forests, humid climate, and variety of high rank vegetable productions, may well warrant this conclusion."

In this paper he describes twenty new species of American Spheriæ, respecting which he remarks, that very few, peculiar to America, spring directly from the soil, that is, from vegetable mould,—for none, in fact, spring solely from rocks, or their unvegetialized debris. Nearly all the fungi, peculiar to America, are parasitic, and this, considering the vast number of peculiar plants and trees of the higher orders, found in our country, may still account for the almost incredible multitude of fungous forms, belonging exclusively to this continent.

His last published performance contains the names of 3098 species of North American fungi, of which more than 1200 are the fruits of Mr. Schweinitz' own labours, embracing, of course, the species previously described in bis paper on the Spheriæ, and those included in his Carolina synopsis. If to these, we add those plants described in his other performances, we have an aggregate of nearly 1400 new species added to the amount of botanical science, by the talents and industry of a single individual; a number constituting no contemptible