The Contribution of de Bary to Our Knowledge of Myxomycetes

The slime molds have been known scientifically for over two centuries. Even before Micheli\u27s time, there is record of references to Fuligo, and in 1729 Micheli published recognizable descriptions and illustrations of several genera and species. Other pre-Lipnean botanists studied the group, but it was not until Linnaeus had stimulated interest in things botanical (although, as is well known, he added nothing to our knowledge of the fungi and slime molds) that extensive study was devoted to the group. The work of Batsch, Bulliard, Schrader, Schweinitz and some of their contemporaries gave us a taxonomic basis for the species, while that of Persoon and Fries, especially the latter, established many of the genera essentially as they are understood today