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were in his idea as compact a group for specific characters as any 

 that could be mentioned. He bad never cultivated them, because 

 it was quite problematical whether they would produce fruit or 

 not. As regarded the question of reproduction from conidia, he 

 had found in other groups that they did not hibernate unless they 

 had some thickening of the external coating to protect them from 

 the cold ; there was a provision of this kind made in the case 

 of Perisporium, where they produced conidiospores which in the 

 spring germinated and infected the plants on which they were 

 found, but in the moulds they had no well authenticated instances 

 of the delicate spores passing through the winter unless they had 

 been previously introduced into the tissues of some host plants. 

 He had not read all the abstruse investigations or imaginations 

 which had been put forth on these subjects, and could therefore 

 say little about them. He would take the opportunity of saying, 

 however, that he was exceedingly glad to meet his old friends 

 at the Quekett Club once more, and he hoped he should be able 

 to join them in some of their excursions during the summer. 

 His great feeling of regret as he looked round him was on account 

 of seeing so few of those whom he used to meet five-and-tvventy 

 years ago ; so many had in the mean time gone over to meet that 

 great majority to which he himself should also go before long. 



The President thought it would be obvious that a line of 

 investigation had been pointed out which could be pursued with 

 advantage, because it was clear there were things here that 

 they did not know and which might be followed with success. 

 Mr. Salmon had made a special study of this group, and it was 

 always the case that in many quarters there were qualms when 

 the old castle was being demolished and a new one erected in its 

 place. What they really did want, however, was a good index 

 of species which could be relied upon as well founded. At present 

 it was no doubt the case that a man sets himself to find out all 

 sorts of minute points, and then incorporates them into specific 

 characters ; but they did not want to make specific characters 

 depend upon something which it took a week to see, and then 

 nobody else could see it'afterwards, — they must have broad species 

 which could be got at without much difiiculty, although after all 

 a species was perhaps just as difiicult to determine in a broad 

 sense as if based on more minute characters, and a specific name 

 was little more than a peg to hang the subject upon. It would 



