Mycology, the study of fungi, originated as a subdiscipline of botany and was a descr- tive discipline, largely neglected as an experimental science until the early years of this century. A seminal paper by Blakeslee in 1904 provided evidence for sel?ncompatib- ity, termed heterothallism, and stimulated interest in studies related to the control of sexual reproduction in fungi by mating-type speci?cities. Soon to follow was the demonstration that sexually reproducing fungi exhibit Mendelian inheritance and that it was possible to conduct formal genetic analysis with fungi. The names Burgeff,...