119 



4 



pne of the best knowu and most active memheis of its staff 

 Masseo joined the Kew stafi^ in 1893, Mhen Iip wn« 



(Ciyptoga 



appointed 



of the [' First Class Assistantships/' so that he has the distinction 

 ot having' been a senior officer diirini? the whole of his official 



career. 



man 



Scampston when about 10 years old, for the city of Yorlc, in 

 order to^. complete his education. Besides adventure, two things 



" botanj'. One may safely say 



nam 



that in all three he achieved success. 

 ences in the West Indies and Smitli 



expe 



more serious w^ork at home, returning to his old hobby, botany, 

 and specialising on fungi and jdant diseases. For some years he 



M. C. Cooke 



offamic 



Ma 



important morphological and systematic papers, and in 1891 liis 

 book British Fungi^ Phycomycetes and Ustila^neae appeared, 

 whilst the following j^ear saw the 2)roduction of his Monograph 

 of the Myxogastres^ in which his skill as an artist, already known 

 through his work in Spruce's Hepaticae Aviazon\cae et A)idinae^ 

 became further evident. In the same year the first volume of his 

 British Fungus Flora was issued. The four vohnnes which were 

 published, at once became, and have remained, a stanrlnrd work, 

 and it is much to be regretted that it was found impossible to 

 issue the remaining parts. 



Previous to 1899 there were only two books on plant diseases 

 available for English students, namely, Mr, Worthington G. 

 Smith's Diseases of Field and Garden Crops and Dr. William G. 

 Smith's very useful translation of von Tubeuf's Pflanzen- 

 krankheiten. The former was limited in its scope, and the latter 

 scientific rather than economic. Mr. ^^assee attacked the subject 

 from the practical standpoint, including at the same time a wide 



" " ^ " "* ' 'iA rr_..x t^^^J^ 



the 



T^ange of host plants, and the appearance of his work, A Text-boo 



n/ 7^1^.^^ nv,.,«.^« :,. 1QOO -.^^t.Vc. oTv £>rsnnh ir» tbp hlstoi'V of tL 



subject in this coimtiy. The book was hailed with delight both 

 M growers and botanists, and a second edition was issued m 

 1903. Throngh it the author came into touch with pathologists 

 in all parts of the world, a fact which incidentally led to a heavy 

 increase of work in the Cryptoganiic Department Many papers 

 and articles followed, and in 3910 his other -^veU-known book, 

 Diseases of Cultivated Plants and Trees, was issued. In 1JU~ He 

 Teceived the V.M.H. of the Royal Horticultural Society. 



In spite of his activity in the field of patho og^j^ Mr. Massee 

 found time to produce books on systematic mycology, a ver/ con- 

 cise but useful synopsis of European Agaricaceae appea^'^^f Jf 



1902, and nine yea/s later the less ««^'^f / *^?^^^"^l/;]^,",!'i 

 British Fungi and Lichens. In 1906 he jniblished a "^o/^ f J^J^^^^ 

 ^vork entitled A Text Bool of Fungi, and ^^l^^^, in conpi^ on 

 ^vith his daughter, Miss Ivy Massee, the volume Mildew,, Kusts 



^nd Smuts. , , l ■ i- . ^^ K«ftpr 



For an idea of Mr. Massee's personal characteristics no better 



