PROFESSOR MASSEE. 



Those who have worked at Kew will recognize the portrait on 

 the preceding page, and those who have not will be glad to have a 

 good portrait of Professor George Massee, whose official title at Kew 

 is The Principal Assistant, (Crytogams). I am under many obliga- 

 tions to Professor Massee for courtesies while working at Kew, and 

 take pleasure in presenting a good photograph of him to the readers 

 of Mycological Notes. Particularly am I glad in view of the publi- 

 cation a few years ago of a most miserable likeness in one of our 

 American journals. 



The following biography is said to have been written by Professor 

 Massee. Any one who is intimately acquainted with him will not 

 doubt it, but will recognize in it his peculiar style. 



My full name is George Edward Massee. I was born in 1850, at Scampston, 

 a hamlet in East Yorkshire. Here they attempted to educate me at a private 

 school, but failed : I had only a liking for drawing and nature. It was intended 

 that I should follow in my father's steps and be a farmer, but I did very little 

 good at farming. I was sent to the York School of Art, where I was fortunate 

 enough to gain the national medal of the year for drawing flowers from nature. 

 At the same time I studied chemistry and physics. Then I was taken in hand 

 by Dr. Spruce, the botanist and traveler, who was a relation of my mother's, 

 and when not ploughing or working in the sheepfold, I worked hard at botany. 

 The illustrations of Dr. Spruce's classical work on Hepaticas were mostly my 

 work. At his suggestion, I went to the West Indies and South America to 

 study plants and collect orchids. I sent home in bulk Oncidium macranthum 

 and Nanodes Medusae. Among my many exciting experiences during that 

 expedition were earthquakes. 



Being an only son, my mother prevailed on me to stop at home, so I again 

 took up the work of farming and botanical study, specializing on fungi and 

 plant diseases. On my father's death I came to Kew, where I worked at the 

 herbarium as a free lance, and in 1893 was appointed Principal Assistant 

 (Crytogams)." 



A SLIGHT CORRECTION. We recently stated, in a footnote, that 

 Polystictus biformis and pergamenus have been "transposed" since Klotzsch 

 published them. "Confused" would have been a better word, for we find on 

 going into the subject again that there is not the slightest evidence that Klotzsch 

 ever saw the plant that has for more than sixty years been known as "Polyporus 

 biformis, Klotzsch," not forgetting to add the "Klotzsch." What he called 

 "biformis," Fries and every one since has called pergamenus. I shall continue 

 to call the plant Polystictus biformis, that being the well established name 

 for it, but I shall not go through the farce of writing "Klotzsch" after it. 

 If you have to add a name, add "Berkeley," who gave the name its present 

 meaning in mycology. 



SPIRIT WORK. I notice in Saccardo, Vol. 6. p. 709, that Persoon pub- 

 lished a new species of Clavaria in the Journal of the Linnean Society, volume 

 18. As this volume was not issued until about fifty years after Persoon died, 

 it was probably through the aid of a medium. It is pretty severe, with all 

 that mycology suffered from the living in the line of "new species" of Clavaria, 

 if the dead ones are going to continue in the work. 



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