Supplement to Mycologia Vol. 61(5) October 2010 Newsletter of the Mycological Society of America — In This Issue — An Unexpected Pilgrimage Feature Article An Unexpected Pilgrimage Normally, a week-long collecting trip into the Great Smoky MSA Business Mountains with three good mycology friends would be enough Presidents Corner to satisfy any mycologist…….and it would have been in the case Secretary’s Report of two Illinois and two Wisconsin mycological forayers. But an The MSA 2009–2010 Official Roster Editor’s Note added event on the last day of the trip in early August, 2010, Mycological News made this trip an especially interesting and memorable one. Cecil Terence Ingold 1905-2010 The mycological contingent included three elders, Alan Studies of Fungal Biodiversity Parker (University of Wisconsin – Waukesha), Darrell Cox (re- in Northern Thailand tired, University of Illinois, Champaign/Urbana), and Harold All Points Bulletin for Synchytrium minutum Burdsall (retired, USDA - Forest Service, Madison, WI) and the The Ninth International Mycological host, Andrew Miller (Illinois Natural History Survey, Cham- Congress – Edinburgh 2010 paign). The three elders of the group were trained by D.P. A Chance Encounter at IMC9 International Society for Fungal Rogers (Parker, Cox) and R.P. Korf (Burdsall), both of whom Conservation provided extensive exposure to mycological history laced with XVI Congress of European Mycologists interesting tidbits regarding the historical figures. Among the Cyberliber Update most interesting of the stories were those of C.G. Lloyd because Complete set of Mycotaxon of his eccentricities. More on that later…. Mycologist’s Bookshelf This venture developed en route to the Smokys as we passed Common Microfungi of Costa Rica a fascinating road sign on Interstate 75 in Kentucky. The sign and other Tropical Regions FoodMold said “Crittenden.” Fascinating? Why? That would be Critten- North American Boletes den, KY, the place where the infamous Curtis Gates Lloyd lived Pictorial Atlas of Soil and Seed Fungi and is buried. Actually, it is the place where his ashes were scat- Systematics of Calonectria tered, near the head stone that he had prepared and erected sev- Recently Received Books eral years before his death and inscribed both humorously and Previously Listed Books self deprecatingly, very interesting for a man who demonstrated Mycological Classifieds little of either in his mycological works and “editorials.” A pic- Biological Control, Biotechnology ture of the head stone is published in one of his works (Lloyd, and Regulatory Services Mold and fungus testing and identification C.G. 1925). Seeing that sign and realizing that we could actual- services ly visit the grave site of this mycological “character” tempted Mycology On-Line the three of us oldsters for the rest of the trip. If the sign were on Calendar of Events the interstate, Crittenden could not be far off our route. We even Sustaining Members got Andy interested in the visit by repeating C.G. Lloyd stories that were passed down to us by professors Rogers and Korf. So, — Important Dates — we decided to exit at Crittenden and attempt to find the grave November 15, 2010 site on the return trip. Deadline for submission to Inoculum 61(6) Lloyd was from a wealthy family of pharmacists in Cincin- November 29-December 2, 2010 nati, Ohio. However, in spite of his pharmaceutical training it VI Brazilian Mycological Congress seems that he had little interest in the business. His interest laid Brasília, Brazil in natural history, especially botany and mycology. The interest Editor — Jinx Campbell was encouraged because of an encounter and association with Dept. of Coastal Sciences, Gulf Coast Research Lab mycologist A.P. Morgan, also from near Cincinnati. Because of University of Southern Mississippi this, his brothers apparently paid him nicely to play with the 703 East Beach Drive, Ocean Springs, MS 39564 Telephone: (228) 818-8878, Fax: (228) 872-4264 fungi and leave them to operate the pharmaceuticals business, the Email: [email protected] Continued on following page Figure 1. Figure 2. largest in the Midwest at the time. C.G. did just that. He ings because they (volumes 1 – 7) were not monitored or studied fungi and traveled the world visiting mycologists reviewed before publication. He said what he wanted about and examining fungi in their herbaria. In addition, profes- whomever or whatever he wanted as often as he wanted. It sional and amateur mycologists world-wide sent him makes for entertaining reading because he never had a specimens for his studies. He established his own herbar- chance to write about us. M.A. Donk stated to Burdsall ium (now at BPI) including his own specimens, those during a collecting trip in the ‘70s that he believed Lloyd from correspondents and many “cleptotypes” (filched por- set back the progress of North American mycology by 50 tions of type specimens) from herbaria he visited. years because of his intimidation of its mycologists. Lloyd had no formal higher education. He was self In the field of mycology, there have been few mycol- taught in his botany and mycology with the assistance of ogists who have engendered more emotion, mostly nega- Morgan, but developed a reputation for his extensive tive, than did Curtis Gates Lloyd. Well known for his many knowledge of macroscopic fungi, from Ascomycotina publications from 1898 to 1925, he was the “grinch” of (Hypoxylon, Xylaria, Peziza, etc.) to Basidiomycotina North American mycology. He was also well known in (gasteromycetes, agaricales, polypores, and resupinates). Europe because of his overbearing attitude and critical na- Polypores and gasteromycetes were his special interest. ture. Those of us who were trained in mycology by the Lloyd developed good friendships with many likes of D.P. Rogers and R.P. Korf were entertained by renowned mycologists but many fell out of grace when he many stories of Lloyd’s “shenanigans.” He used the fic- disagreed with their taxonomy or when they made new tional Professor McGinty to describe new species, Tso Kay combinations and added their names after the species epi- as his spokesman for hypocrisy in mycological research, thet. “Advertising”, he called it and he had no patience for especially “name juggling”, and otherwise criticized those anyone who did it. He made no effort to hide his displeas- who used authority citations and transferred species to dif- ure about another mycologist’s work or taxonomic opin- ferent genera as “advertisers and name jugglers.” ion. His good friend E.A. Burt crossed the abyss into dis- So, with all these stories and notions in mind we were repute because of some of his mycological actions. Lloyd drawn to visit C.G. Lloyd’s grave site and the three of us was unrestricted in what he said scientifically or personal- imposed on the host of the trip (Miller) to detour to Crit- ly (he published his own journal) in his Mycological Writ- Continued on following page 2 Inoculum 61(5), October 2010 tenden on the way back to Champaign/Urbana. As expected, Crittenden was very near (within spittin’ distance) of the indicated exit. In addition, we immediately found signs to the Curtis Gates Lloyd Wildlife Management Area. Apparently CGL was in- terested in maintaining natural habitats (something that never made the mycological stories) and willed his major land hold- ings (365 acres, now increased to more than 1100) to the state of Kentucky with strict instruc- Figure 3. Mycologists visiting C.G. Lloyd’s Headstone, left to right, Andrew tions (no surprise there) as to Miller, Alan Parker, Harold Burdsall, Darrell Cox how it was to be managed. A short search of our own re- same time. We began wondering how many mycolo- vealed nothing but the wildlife area. However, a stop at gists have ever visited this unusual mycological attrac- the gas station and conversations with several locals pro- tion……….any? (Figure 3) vided us with directions to the site. Within several minutes The detour to Lloyd’s resting place was more than we were all standing at the headstone, a quite imposing an interesting distraction from the road on the way back stone at that, surrounded by a split rail fence (what else in to Illinois and Wisconsin. It provided realism to all the KY) isolating the 30’ X 30’ grave site. And there were the stories three of us had heard and now may lead others carved words that were pictured in his volume. He really to examine Lloyd’s fascinating volumes. The visit will did erect his own memorial in advance of his death and re- definitely provide fond memories and will be relived in ally did have it engraved as was pictured in his mycologi- our conversations for years. cal journal. In fact, the back side of the stone was also en- To learn more about C.G. Lloyd, refer to Fitz- graved. Something we had not been told……or we had patrick (1927) and to the Lloyd Library web site forgotten. (http://www.lloydlibrary.org/history/lloyd_brothers.ht The stone reads on one side (Fig. 1): ml). This was one interesting fellow. CURTIS G. LLOYD If you are interested in finding the memorial for MONUMENT ERECTED 1922 BY yourself, follow the instructions below. HIMSELF. FOR HIMSELF. DURING HIS Take the Crittenden exit from Interstate 75; follow LIFE. TO GRATIFY HIS OWN VANITY. US 25 south about 1 mile, turn left onto KY 491, cross WHAT FOOLS THESE MORTALS BE! the railroad tracks and continue about ¼ mile, turn left And on the other (Fig. 2): into the gun club parking lot, continue to the far right CURTIS G. LLOYD end of the lot. After parking, walk into the woods about BORN IN1859 - DIED 60 OR 200 yards straight ahead and down the right fork of the MORE YEARS AFTERWARDS trail to the head stone THE EXACT NUMBER OF YEARS MONTHS AND DAYS THAT HE LIVED NOBODY KNOWS AND NOBODY CARES.