140 ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



Pacific coast, which must be wonderfully rich and varied. No attempt 

 has been made to prepare any systematic list of our fresh water algae. 



The economic importance of these two unlisted divisions of our 

 flora is very considerable. Our marine algse contain a few plants 

 useful for food; some have a value for manufacturing purposes, and 

 some have fertilizing properties. Among the so-called 'higher fungi axe 

 many plants, which, if they have not the substantial food qualities some- 

 times attributed to them, are at least wholesome delicacies, palatable 

 as well as nutritious^ — much more so picked and eaten fresh than 

 when imported from abroad. There are many forms in addition to 

 our common mushroom (Agaricus campestris) which are equal if not 

 superior to it in flavour and quality. Now that we have fairly entered 

 upon a study of the distribution of our flowering plants and ferns, we 

 should turn our attention to the fungi. 



Apart from economic considerations, there are others which should 

 influence scientific students, — and one is to make known to the world 

 what is found in Canada. The investigation of our flora will help to 

 solve problems of plant distribution and other problems of scientific 

 interest to the world. 



The distrust and suspicion with which many of the fungi are 

 looked upon show that more attention should be given to them, to 

 educate popular opinion in favour of a class of plants that have been 

 much abused and maligned. The presence of vast numbers of toad- 

 stools of every form and colour in our woods and fields every year, 

 especially in September and October, is a source of curiosity to those 

 people who kick them over and desire of you the information whether 

 such and such a plant is a " mushroom '' or a " toadstool." Some 

 there may be who, naturally observant, have found in the despised toad- 

 stool a beautiful and complicated structure. They recognize among the 

 higher fungi an agaric by its gUls, a polyporus or boletus by its 

 pores, a hydnum by its spines, a morel by the fluted folds of its 

 cap, or a puff-ball by its spherical or balloon-like shape. But you 

 inay count on the fingers of one hand probably those in Canada, outside 

 of the Natural History Survey, who have attempted the serious study 

 of the higher fungi, while still fewer have attempted the "Imperfect 

 Fungi," as they are termed, which are so destructive as parasites on 

 cultivated plants. 



It is perhaps too soon to expect, in the multitude of problems which 

 have occupied the attention of the botanists of the Dominion that 

 much time should be devoted to the fungi; but their importance from 

 an economic standpoint is great, and some general and systematic 

 scheme for their investigation should be devised and put into practice. 



