WORK IN THE FIELD AMONGST THE I-'UNGI. g 



work consecutively in partsof the journal, the first part, witli three 

 coloured plates, including about eighty pests, appearing in the 

 current part, just published. It is proposed to issue them in 

 sections, as " Pests of the Flower Garden " ; " Pests of the 

 Vegetable Garden " ; " Pests of the Orchard and Fruit Garden " ; 

 *' Pests of the Vinery and Stove." Perhaps to be followed by 

 " Pests of the Shrubbery " ; " Pests of the Forest Trees " ; and 

 " Pests of Field Crops." Whether the attempt proves satisfac- 

 tory or not, it will be some consolation to know that the effort is 

 being made, and that it is contemplated to re-issue the entire 

 series in book form, when the publication in the journal is com- 

 pleted ; and that the second instalment of plates and letterpress 

 are in the printer's hands. 



III.— THE WORK OF THE FUTURE. 



I may be asked what is, or what should be, the work of the 

 future. And this I think should not be— as far as regards tlie 

 Hymenomycetal Fungi — so much in the increase as in the 

 diminution of the number of species. There are some people 

 who measure success by the number of neiiJ species which are 

 added to the lists during the year. But I am inclined to ask 

 whether this is not rather a false success, somewhat of a decep- 

 tion, since we have not hitherto troubled ourselves enough to 

 enquire what are the influences which are at work in the 

 production of variation, in the Agarics for instance, and how far 

 variation from a given type may proceed, under local influences, 

 which would not justify specific distinction. I fancy when care- 

 ful attention is given to this subject, we shall find our list of 

 British species diminish considerably and justifiably, not at 

 haphazard, but as the result of close and painstaking investiga- 

 tion. It is the young and inexperienced who are ever on the 

 alert for new species, and the veterans who have wintered and 

 summered half a century of field work that look with suspicion 

 on the minute differences which are often considered sufficient to 

 constitute a new species, without regard to the circumstances 

 under which the type divergence occurred. 



If I were to give an illustration of this, I should perhaps 

 select two or three species which are not fair types of my 

 meaning, but v/hich would not be objected to on the ground that 



