266 Transactions.— Botany. 
two of the ordinary meetings of the Hawke's Bay Philosophieal Institute 
held in 1883; and although I knew the genera of some of them, yet in 
order the better to ascertain their generic and specifie distinctions and 
positions in this very intricate Order of plants, I forwarded specimens to 
Sir J. D. Hooker at Kew. From him I have lately received a list of them, 
kindly drawn up by that eminent fungologist, Dr. Cooke, which list I now 
give, together with a few brief and plain popular notes concerning those 
species now for the first time found in this country. 
And here I may observe, that out of 26 distinct species forwarded in 
this little lot to Kew, 21, belonging to 20 genera, have been now detected 
in New Zealand; yet of these no less than 19 species are known from other 
countries, mostly the Old World; so that there are only two really new 
species in the whole lot ! 
This circumstance, however, is neither strange nor unexpected; for in 
the Annales des Sciences Naturelles an account has been given by M. Mon- 
tagne of the Fungi transmitted from Juan Fernandez by Bertero, consisting 
of 56 species; of these there is scarcely more than a third which are not 
referable to well-known European species,—and only one which requires 
the formation of a new genus for its admission. So, also, of those numer- 
ous species of Fungi described by Sir J. D. Hooker in the ‘‘ Handbook 
of the New Zealand Flora," a large proportion of them are European and 
cosmopolitan. 
Sir J. D. Hooker, in his accompanying letter to me, remarks on this 
curious incident, saying :—‘‘ While many of them are already well-known 
to science from other countries; on the other hand, almost all the species 
you have now sent are new to the islands of New Zealand, and thus give an 
idea how vast a number of ore: distributed forms remain to be collected.” 
1. Polyporus exiguus, sp. n 
A small semi-stipitate anhi whitish fungus, of horizontal growth, 
among mosses, on the bark of old trees near their bases; wet woods near 
Norsewood, Waipawa County ; 1888: W.C. 
2. P. fomentarius, Fr. 
This species of fungus is the real Amadou or German Tinder, and is very 
generally distributed over the globe. Berkeley says of it (Introduction to 
Crypt. Botany) that “it is one of the few undoubted instances of fungus 
occurring in a fossil state. . . . Inthe Kew Museum a British specimen 
may be seen together with one from Sikkim, the accordance of the two 
being quite perfect" (p. 252). Again: “ P. fomentarius not only supplies 
Amadou, but has been manufactured into coarse clothing” (p. 864). And, 
such being the case, it almost leads me to doubt the specific identity of the 
New Zealand plant, because this plant is excessively hard and tough to cut 
