Elias Magnus Fries's fungus exsiccati Scleromyceti Sueciae: New light on the obscure “fascicle nine”

Abstract

Elias Magnus Fries's fungus exsiccati Scleromyceti Sueciae documents specimens cited in several of Fries's publications that are now considered sanctioning works in the nomenclature and taxonomy of several groups of fungi. The first eight fascicles of the first edition of the Scleromyceti Sueciae were issued periodically during the years 1819–1822. Each fascicle was issued as a bound booklet that included, among other information, a printed title page with a date, and an index followed by 30–40 specimens. A ninth fascicle that concluded the first edition was issued without a date. Scholars of the Scleromyceti Sueciae inferred an approximate date of issuance of mid‐1825 based on Fries's correspondence, but they were uncertain whether fascicle nine was issued as a booklet or on loose sheets. In addition, the location of the printed index to fascicle nine that they studied was unclear. We obtained images of a complete, original copy of fascicle nine from the collections of the Natural History Museum of Denmark of the University of Copenhagen. This copy proves that fascicle nine was issued as a bound booklet like the previous eight fascicles and contained a printed index and printed specimen labels. Because of the apparent rarity of a complete, original copy of fascicle nine, we describe the copy at the Natural History Museum of Denmark and provide images of the index. We discuss potential problems in typifying names from material issued in the Scleromyceti Sueciae second edition. Using an example from fascicle nine, we discuss Fries's omissions, errors, and lapses in citing specimens.