282 Transactions. — Botany. 



Art. XXYIU.—The Fungus Flora of Neio Zealand. 



By George Massee, F.L.S., F.E.M.S., Principal Assistant 

 (Cryptogams), Royal Herbarium, Kew. 



Communicated by Sir J. Hector. 



lEead before the Wellington Philosophical Society, 20th Septeynber, 1898.] 



Plates XXII.-XXIV. 



The last complete enumeration of New Zealand Fungi is con- 

 tained in the " Handbook of the New Zealand Flora." Since 

 the publication of this work, in 1864, many hundreds of Fungi 

 have been received at Kew for identification, communicated by 

 the Rev. William Colenso, F.R.S., F.L.S. Out of these, many 

 proved to be undescribed species, while numerous others had 

 not previously been recorded from New Zealand. 



As an illustration of the numerous additions to the Flora, it 

 may be mentioned that in the Handbook thirty-three species 

 belonging to the Agaricinea, or gill-bearing Agarics, are re- 

 corded, whereas at the present day no fewer than one hun- 

 dred and thirty-two species are known. An equal increase 

 in numbers is also true of the other groups of Fungi. 



Under the circumstances, it is considered that the study of 

 mycology in New Zealand would be facilitated by indicating 

 what has already been done, and in giving diagnoses of all 

 indigenous species. Apart from the purely scientific side of 

 the subject, it is absolutely essential, from an economic stand- 

 point, that a sound knowledge of the numerous destructive 

 parasitic species should be possessed by those whose duty it is 

 to superintend and advise on the best means of protecting the 

 vegetable products of the country from their attacks. 



The Nature of Fungi. 

 The amount of evidence possessed at the present day 

 favours the idea that the Fungi have descended in a direct line 

 from the Algae, and, by gradual differentiation and adaptation 

 to a life on dry land, have at some distance from the point of 

 departure from the parent stock gradually acquired a set of 

 characteristics which collectively give an individuality to the 

 group. On the other hand, the Fungi are strictly a terminal 

 group — in other words, there are no indications of a departure, 

 either morphologically or physiologically, from the Fungi that 

 suggest the starting-point of a new order of things. The 

 mutualism between Fungi and Algae that has resulted in the 

 production of the group of plants collectively known as 



