Britain, are yearly added to the list. With such works as 

 Stephenson's Fungus-Flora for the higher and Massee's for the 

 lower forms, Dr. Cooke's works, Mr. Worthington Smith's sheets 

 illustrative of the edible and poisonous kinds or with the little 

 guides to the Sowerby Models or to the Myxomycetes in the 

 Natural History Museum, it is not diflficult for anyone with 

 ordinary botanical training to identify most of his finds. 



Unlike the collectors in most other classes we need not be 

 trammelled, I think, with any fear of exterminating rare 

 species ; and assuredly there are plenty of problems as to life 

 history, influence of weather, chemistry of colour and of alkaloids, 

 and physiological action, awaiting the researches of those 

 who contemn mere species hunting. If the members of our 

 various field clubs would only work out the distribution of the 

 fungi of their own immediate districts, noting their manner 

 of occurrence, as to soil, shade, weather, food, etc., this is 

 iust one of the subjects in which most valuable results could 

 be obtained over a wide area, by the communication of local 

 lists, confirmed, where possible, by verified specimens, to the 

 central mycological research committee of a union of Societies. 

 Sussex, since the days of William Borrer of Henfield, has had a 

 fair share of resident critical botanists, and the long residence of 

 Mr. Mitten at Hurstpierpoint will not, perhaps, have left many 

 novelties to be gleamed among mosses and their allies ; nor are the 

 dry soils and climate of south-eastern England favourable to fern 

 life ; whilst it is among the more conspicuous flowering plants 

 that most observations have been made in this, as in all other 

 districts. Nevertheless, though the work of the late Mr. 

 Roper was fairly complete for the Eastbourne district, there is 

 still much to be done for the county generally, and, I think, for 

 this immediate district, even in phanerogamic botany. The 

 question how far the distribution of species is determined by the 

 chemical character, as apart from the moisture of the soil, and how 

 for it follows watersheds in a comparatively low lying area such 

 as this, is by no means completely answered as yet, nor, perhaps, 

 are we likely to get much reply to it of a satisfactory character, 

 until ttie more critical genera, such as brambles and roses, have 

 been carefully worked. Here, too, again, in addition to those 

 distributional phenomena which in my opinion form the special 

 province of field clubs, there is at least as great a variety of 

 problems concerning development,, comparative anatomy and 

 physiology awaiting solution or further elucidation as in any 

 other division of the vegetable kingdom. Many flowering plants 

 are partly parasitic or saprophytic, or are accompanied with that 



