Section IV., 1904 [ 139 ] Trans. R. S. C. 



VI. — The Study of Canadian Fungi: A Review. 







By G. U. Hay, D.Sc. 



(Read June 23, 1904.) 



The study and distribution of fungi, especially of the Çasidio- 

 mycetes, or higher fungi, has received so little attention on the part 

 of Canadian botanists that a brief paper calling attention to the desir- 

 ability of a more intimate knowledge of this class of plants, with a 

 review of what has been already accomplished in this direction, may 

 not be inappropriate at the present time. There are several workers 

 in various parts of the Dominion who are devoting some attention to 

 the fungi, but they are for the most part unknown to each other, except 

 from correspondence or from an exchange of their all too brief and 

 sporadic lists. In the full and excellent lists of the Dominion Natural 

 History Survey, compiled by Professor Macoun and his assistants, the 

 students of our flora have access to detailed information concerning the 

 distribution of the known plants of Canada with the exception of the 

 fungi and algae. 



In a recent letter from Professor Macoun, he states that he will, 

 if spared, in two years from this time, begin the work of listing the large 

 collections of fungi which he has gathered from different parts of the 

 country. The completion of such a preliminary list will be looked 

 forward to with much interest. 



There will then remain only the great division of the algœ to be 

 dealt with. The work on these in Canada has been even more meagre 

 than on the fungi. Professor Farlow of Harvard University, in his 

 work on the New England Marine Algge, enumerates and describes a 

 number of species found on the southern coast of New Brunswick. 

 Professor Fowler, in the additions to his list of New Brunswick Plants, 

 published a short list of marine algsc.^ A paper was presented to this 

 Section in 1887 by the writer containing a preliminary list, compiled 

 by Dr. A. H. MacKay and himself, of nearly one hundred, species of 

 marine algfe known to exist along the seaboard of Nova Scotia, New 

 Brunswick and Prince Edward Island.- No attempt, so far as I am 

 aware, has been made to catalogue the marine flora of the Canadian 



* Additions to List of New Brunswick Plants, by James Fowler, M.A. 

 Report of the Secretary of Agriculture for New Brunswick, 1S80. 



^ Marine Algse of New Brunswick, by G. U. Hay. Introductory List of 

 Marine AlgîB of Atlantic Canada, with notes, by G. U. Hay and A. II. MacKay. 

 From the Transactions of the Royal Society of Canada, 1887, pages 167-174. 



