1898] BOTANICAL WORK WANTING WORKERS 35 



another class of work which badly needs careful workers. I allude 

 to the life-history of Algae, both marine and fresh-water, but 

 particularly the latter. We know but little of the changes that 

 take place between the time that they disappear and reappear again. 

 We do not even know whether some of the Algae are not merely 

 stages of growth of others. This is especially true of those plants 

 in which only vegetative growth and reproduction are known, and in 

 which sexual reproduction is unknown. Anyone who would take 

 the trouble to cultivate such plants as Porpliyridium, Chroococcus, 

 Oscillaria, Tetraspora, and Sehizogonium, and reveal their life-history 

 throughout the year, would add very considerably to our knowledge. 

 This would not be a difficult task to those residing in the country 

 who could check results obtained under cultivation by observations 

 made in the localities where the plants flourish. Those who reside 

 near the sea might attempt to solve some of the problems that are 

 still attached to some of the commonest marine Algae. A micro- 

 scopical examination once a month or once a fortnight during the 

 year might result in rinding the cystocarps of Rhodymenia palmata, 

 the unknown tetraspores of some of the species of Phyllojjhora, and 

 Ahnfdtia plicata, of Gigartina mamillosa, or of the rarer Bonne- 

 maisonia, and Sjyhacrococcus, also the fructification of Spliacclaria 

 scoparia, which, so far as is known, has never been found in this 

 country. 



The cultivation of the common Laminariae from spores might 

 also throw- some light on the life-history of these remarkable plants. 



A list of the species of British Marine Algae in which certain 

 forms of the fructification are unknown, is given in the Annals of 

 Botany, vol. v., November 1891, No. xx. 



Other branches of botanical work to which attention might be 

 directed are : — 



(1) The relation of the distribution of plants to water-sheds, 



geological formations, and chemical constituents of the 

 soil, drainage, land carriage, agricultural seeds, and other 

 causes. 



(2) The special means by which different mosses rarely found 



in fructification are propagated and distributed. 



(3) The rate of growth of different species of lichens. 



(4) The relation of Hymenomycetes and Gasteromycetes, and 



other plants, to the roots of special trees or plants. 



(5) The spread of parasitic fungi, injurious to plants, from wild 



plants to cultivated species of the same genus. 



The list of the species of mosses and scale-mosses which should 



be looked for in Kent is here given. The list of the species of the 



Lichens and Fungi is not given, but only the names of the groups 



that are least represented, but plants of which are most likely to be 



