1> R li 1'^ A 0 ]<:,
Tn dealing with tlie diseases of plants due to Fungi, it is necessary to determine the name and nature of the Fungus
causing the disease, in order to be able to cope with it and to take effectual measures for its prevention, palliation, or
cure. Accordingly I considered it essential to have the various known Australian Fungi recorded for reference, just
as the various higher forms of Australian vegetation are so ably set forth by the Government Botanist, Baron von
Mueller, in his Systematic Census. The very useful IlandbooJc o f Australian Fungi, prepared by Dr. M. C. Cooke,
tbe veteran mycologist, under the sanction and authority of the various colonial Governments, has been taken as a
basis and prepared tbe way for the present publication. This Systematic Arrangement o f Australian Fungi aims at
giving in a compact and handy form a complete enumeration of all the known species up to date, systematically
arranged so as to show their relationships, and briefly described, together with sueb additional information as may be
of use in a future detailed and more direefly useful account. The object being to bring together all the species
recorded by the various workers in (his field, to take stock, as it were, of what has been done, 1 had to consult tbe
different works bearing on the subject previous to tbo addition of a largo number of hitherto unrecorded Fungi to the
list. I have accordingly prepared a “ List of Works on Australian Fungi,"” the first of its kind. A complete list of
Fungi having been compiled from the various publications, including several papers of my own read before the Royal
Society of Victoria, together with the plants or parts of plants on which they occurred, in the case of parasitic forms,
the material was supplied for a provisional Host-index; the terra “ h o st” being applied to the plant on which the
Fungus lives or preys, tbe Fungus being an unwelcome guest as a rule. The necessity for a Ilost-index became
apparent from the time I was appointed Vegetable Pathologist.
There are thus three connected and interdependent divisions in this publication, which may now be briefly
glanced at and explained.
I.—S y s t e m a t ic A r r a n g e m e n t o f A u s t r a l ia n F u n g i .
The plan pursued is the following :—
1st. A consecutive number is given to each species, for convenience of reference, and all future additions will
be numbered consecutively. Varieties are distinguished by having a letter added to the number of the species.
2nd. The number in Dr. Cooke’s Handbook o f Aiistralian Fungi is next given for ready reference to the
description of any species in that work. This serves a double purpose, and shows not only the species recorded in that
work, but also species omitted.
3rd. The volume and number is next quoted for every Australian species given in Saccardo’s Sylloge Fungorum,
consisting at present of ten thick volumes, which are in the Melbourne Public Library. This is the standard work on
Fungi, and is tiie most complete and exhaustive at the present time. The references to Cooke and Saccardo w ill leave
no doubt as to (he particular Fungus meant.
dth. The scientific name adopted for each species of Fungus follows next. It is absolutely necessary, for
purposes of accuracy, to have the scientific names as well as the common names, for otherwise serious mistakes may
arise. Thus, the nnmo of “ Peach Yellows ” (the dreaded American disease) is often applied to a disease of the Peach
in this colony, but, fortunately, it is a very different and much more harmless disease, being none other than the
Peach-leaf Rust {Puccinia Pruni). It may be noted that the sub-genera of Agaricus are raised to the rank o f genera;
and, as the original generic name is thus set free, it is retained for the species to which the common Edible
Mushroom belongs, and wliich wei’e formerly included in the sub-genus Psa^Hota.