34 THE president's address. 



of ages that have passed since the deposit alluded to was made. 

 So, here, we are face to face with an eternal law still operating 

 in our own seas, as in days gone by, manifested in the story of 

 the Gabbard and Galloper sands. 



One cannot, however, do otherwise than note, that some 

 uncertainty exists as to the class to which the organisms above 

 referred to should be placed — viz., whether Algae or Fungi. 

 Long ago Fries, a Swedish botanist, was of opinion that Algse, 

 Fungi, and Lichens have so close a relation to each other as to 

 be interchangeable, and Dr. Lindley expressed the same views. 

 When developed in water they were Algse, the same on land or 

 in air Fungi or Lichens. That there are close analogies may be 

 undoubted, but, one might ask, whether the rest is not a matter 

 for experiment. Otherwise it must be regarded only as an 

 hypothesis. Kcilliker was of opinion that the organisms alluded 

 to must be referred to the Fungi ; it was to this class I turned 

 in my study of them, and here that I found most analogies in 

 form and character. This was also the opinion of Dr. M. C. 

 Cooke, who presided when I read my paper, and who has rendered 

 such eminent services on the subject of Fungi, and of the 

 microscopic Algae, and he referred them to the " Moulds." 



But if we may entertain the possibility of evolution or 

 devolution in the classes above named, how much more necessary 

 is it to consider the propriety of not too readily making species 

 in lower organisms, where changes must be frequent and con- 

 stantly taking place according to the habitat ! That this practice 

 of creating species has too often taken place in the class alluded 

 to, has received criticism from one who has done such excellent 

 service in its study, the Rev. M. J. Berkeley, who, in an article 

 on the Fungus foot of India, says : " Mere mycelia have been 

 described as perfect plants, mistakes have been made in im- 

 portant points of structure, and productions of an undoubted 

 fungoid nature been referred to Algae, though agreeing with 

 them neither in habit nor physiology, while the commonest 

 Moulds have received new names, and several conditions of the 

 same species have been registered as autonomous productions." 

 I cannot but feel that the character of this criticism might be 

 even more widely applied. 



It was due to Dr. M. C. Cooke, our then President in 1884, 

 that I was directed to the subject of the Fungus foot, of which 



