PRESIDENTS ADDRESS. — SECTION D. 139 



cytology and heredity, and with Prof. Lawson, at Sydney, to repre- 

 sent plant cytology, this department of investigation will receive 

 the attention its importance merits. The present preponderance of 

 systematic work has so-metiines led toi botany and zoology being 

 termed the descriptive sciences, whereas they are just as much, 

 and should be jast as much, experimental sciences as chemistry 

 and physics. Even if they were descriptive only, they would still 

 be of value, and we should not be entitled to' term chemistry and 

 physics, by comparison, the ncn-descriptive sciences. 



Coming now to a review of the more important botanical research 

 done during the period, we may note equally serioius gape in the 

 work doiie. 



In regard to systematic work oai cryptogams we have papers on 

 Algae, by A. S. Lucas and G. I. Playfair ; but a great field for inves- 

 tigation probably lies open in regard to the modes of reproduction 

 of Australian algae, in view of recent Japanese researches into the 

 life histories of certain red and brown algae. 



We have again large contributions to our systematic knowledge 

 of mosses, hepatics, and ferns from the late Rev. W. W. Watts, 

 both singly and in collaboration with Brotherus and Stephanni, 

 and also by L. Rcdway ; but one might suggest that a study of 

 parthenogeny in Australian mosses, and of apogamy and apospory 

 in Australian ferns would probably bring to light facts of great in- 

 terest, just as in A. H. S. Lucas's investigations into parthe- 

 nogenesis in aquatic phanerogams. In regard tO' the higher vas- 

 cular cryptogams, apart from the investigation of the prothalli of 

 Psilotum and Tmesipteris, by WhiVelegge, and more fully by Prof. 

 Lawson, and apart from Prof. Osborn's work on Lycopods, singu- 

 larly little reset rch work has been done. 



More work has been carried out on fungi and bacteria, parti- 

 cularly from an economic stand -point, as, for instance', in Greig- 

 Smith's investiefations of soil and other bacteria, in Darnell- 

 Smith's investigations of bacterial diseases, in some work by 

 Mr. Thomson and myself on root-tubercle bacteria, and in the 

 systematic work of -Cleland and Cheel on Australian Fungi. 



Peirhaps the most important piece of work in this direction is 

 that of Dr. McLennan on the Fungus of Lolium. In showing that 

 the fungus penetrates the cvum prior to fertilization, and plays an 

 important part in the nutrition of the developing seed, Dr. 

 McLennan brings to light a new case of hereditary symbiosis, and 

 shows that rye and darnel grass are dual organisms comparable 

 to lichens, but with the chlorophyllous component forming the 

 dominant partner. This research should give a new impetus to 

 investigatio.ns into the nature and life history of smut fungi, and 

 it seems possible that we have here a case of an originally parasitic 

 fungus which has been completely mastered by its host and put 

 permanently to riseful work. 



