20 THE BUREAU OF SCIENCE 



course. At the opening of the school year 1915-16, Doctor 

 Brown was detailed to the University to take over the classes 

 formerly under the direction of Mr. Merrill, and this ultimately 

 led to Doctor Brown's transfer to the University in July, under 

 an arrangement by which he devoted one day per week to the 

 Bureau of Science. The position of mycologist was filled by the 

 appointment of Dr. Harry S. Yates, who reported for duty in 

 August, 1915. 



Explo7^ation. — Comparatively little field work has been done 

 during the past year, owing to the depleted force. The work 

 has been done chiefly by Mr. Ramos, with the exception of one 

 important collection made in Laguna Province, Luzon, by Mr. 

 McGregor. Collections have been made by members of the 

 Bureau staff in Batangas, Cavite, Cagayan, Bataan, Rizal, La- 

 guna, and Sorsogon Provinces. 



Mycology. — Fungi are inconspicuous plants, some species of 

 which cause the most troublesome plant diseases, such as some 

 of those of coffee, coconut, and tobacco. The study of fungi in 

 the Bureau of Science consists of two lines, namely, systematic 

 mycology and plant pathology. The first is concerned with the 

 scientific name of the species and whether or not the same 

 species is found in other countries. The second is the studj'' 

 of the effect of fungi upon the higher plants, especially cultivated 

 one^, and the study thus becomes economic. Both are intimately 

 connected, and a large amount of purely systematic work must 

 be done before definite progress can be made in the more economic 

 aspects of the question. That is, the mycologist must first know 

 the name and systematic position of the organism he is consider- 

 ing, otherwise the economic work in other countries is not avail- 

 able to him. The effect of fungi upon animals is a large field 

 that so far has been little touched upon in the Philippines. 



The Bureau of Science has been carrying on systematic mycol- 

 ogy for a number of years, and the herbarium contains a fairly 

 complete representation of the named fungi known to occur in 

 the Philippines, totaling several thousand specimens. The nu- 

 cleus of an extra-Philippine collection has also been established 

 by an exchange of duplicate material. In view of the fact that 

 no large herbaria exist in this part of the world, this foreign 

 material is essential for purposes of comparison; without it, 

 it would be necessary to send a great part of our material to 

 European specialists for identification. Hardly more than a 

 beginning has been made in the study of the fungi of the 

 Philippines. In spite of the relatively large amount of work 

 already accomplished, the number of new species in all collec- 



