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ECONOMIC MYCOLOGY : THE BENEFICIAL AND 

 INJURIOUS INFLUENCES OF FUNGI.* 



W. N. CHEESMAN, J. P., F.L.S. 



We meet for the third time under the cloud of a great European 

 War, the most terrible war the world has ever seen. Let us 

 hope that when the successful end is accomplished, and the 

 silver lining comes into sight, means will be adopted to prevent 

 the repetition of such a world's calamity. 



May nations in the future strive only to excel in the peaceful 

 arts and sciences, and in the production of things which may 

 tend to the happiness and betterment of mankind. 



Already the attitude of the public mind towards science in 

 relation to commerce and industry is hopeful and encouraging. 



Although Mr. Crossland, in his Presidential Address in 1908, 

 acknowledged the part taken by the early workers in Mycology, 

 I feel that no reference should be made to Yorkshire Mycology 

 without expressing deep appreciation of the great help rendered 

 to the workers by Mr. George Massee, for many years the head 

 of the Cryptogamic Department in the Royal Herbarium at 

 Kew, and who for forty years has been the mainstay of the 

 section in our county, f 



Others who have rendered yeoman service in their time, 

 and who have passed away may be mentioned : The Revd. 

 Canon Fowler, Dr. Franklin Parsons, R. H. Philip, H. T. 

 Soppitt and William West. 



All honour and appreciation is due to our esteemed veteran 

 and past President of the Union, the late Charles Crossland, 

 who for many years laboured most assiduously and successfully 

 in the Mycological work of the county. We have still with 

 us energetic workers in the persons of Dr. Harold Wager 

 (Chairman of the Mycological section), Alfred Clarke, Thomas 

 Gibbs, Sir Henry Hawley and others, all of whom are doing 

 useful work in their different departments. 



To define a group of plants of such varying characters as 

 the Fungi is not an easy matter. The number of species is 

 computed to be over seventy thousand, the forms, sizes and 

 colours of which range over an enormous extent. Perhaps the 

 most concise definition is' ' Cryptogams minus chlorophyll,' 

 meaning that they belong to one of the lowest groups of 

 vegetation, having the reproductive organs hidden or concealed, 

 and that they are devoid of chlorophyll, the green colouring 



* Being the Presidential Address to the Yorkshire Naturalists' Union, 

 delivered at Selby on December 2nd, 1916. 



■j- Since the above was written we have had to deplore the loss of 

 both Geo. Massee and Chas. Crossland. 



.1917 June l. 



