Presidential Address. Harold Wager.. 305 



PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS. 



By Harold Wager, D.Sc, F.R.S., F.L.S. 



On this the first annual meeting of the Society since its re- 

 organisation, it is appropriate that I should devote a few 

 minutes of the time at my disposal to consider briefly the pro- 

 gress made in Mycology during the time the Society has been 

 in existence, a period covering* nearly a quarter of a century. 



During this period our knowledge of the life-histories of the 

 Fungi, especially the Phycomycetes, Ascomycetes, and Basidio- 

 mycetes (Uredineae and Hymenomycetes) has been completely 

 revolutionised. The perfection of the microscope, and the intro- 

 duction of more refined methods of investigation, have enabled 

 us to elucidate the cell structure or cytology of the Fungi to 

 such a degree of completeness that in this respect they are 

 almost as well known as the more highly developed plants. 



In Physiology, Pathology and in the biological relationships 

 of parasitic forms to their hosts very important contributions, 

 of interest, not only to the mycologist and biologist, but to in- 

 vestigators in various other branches of science, have been 

 made. The progress which has taken place in our knowledge of 

 fertilisation in the Fungi, and the discovery of endokaryogamy, 

 a process of nuclear fusion entirely unknown before either in 

 plant or animals, have led tdJ^various new conceptions of the 

 significance of sex and nuclear fusions. 



Many new systems of classification have been proposed, and 

 some of them have been very favourably received, but in this 

 country the system devised by Fries is, for all practical pur- 

 poses, still maintained. The difficulties which are confronted in 

 the attempt to devise a more natural classification are very 

 great. Although much has been done to elucidate the life- 

 histories of the Fungi, we are still unacquainted with the com- 

 plete life-histories of the vast majority of the Fungi, and the 

 list of Fungi Imperfecti — Fungi which are supposed to be stages 

 in the life-histories of other Fungi — is still so vast that anything 

 like a reasonably natuial classification is out of the question. 

 Something however might be done to introduce a more natural 

 arrangement of the British Fungi than that at present in use. 

 Probably the most serviceable classification available is that 

 given by Engler and Gilg in the Syllabus der Pflanzenfamilien. 



