Proceedings of the A. A. A. S. 509 



forms. It is safe to say, however, that the more highly 

 developed parasites have not had their origin in the Myx- 

 omycetes ; and there is very little to lead us to believe that 

 parasitic and non-parasitic plants were simultaneously 

 developed from primitive protoplasmic structures. 



When one regards fungi as a single class of plants, and 

 attempts to trace a clear connection between the highest 

 and lowest members, he finds numerous gaps which cannot 

 well be filled. A general parallel, however, exists between 

 chlorphyll-bearing algae and fungi, and one is forced to ask 

 whether the order of development has not been from the 

 lowest to the highest algae, and whether the different groups 

 of fungi have not arisen from different groups of algae at 

 different periods in the process of evolution. This view 

 seems more in accordence with existing facts than any 

 other. 



Economy in the Management op the Soil. 



The members of Section I (Economic Science and Statis- 

 tics) listened to an address by Yice-President H. H. Alvord 

 on "Economy in the Management of the Soil." The fol- 

 lowing is a partial synopsis : — 



The American Association was largely modelled after the 

 British. The section of economic science and statistics was 

 organized at its thirty-first annual meeting. The largest 

 and most important meeting of the section was in Phila- 

 delphia, in 1884. The work of the section in the past has 

 included the subjects of education, foods, food-fishes, forestry, 

 and others not classified. The tendency has been toward 

 the many economic problems connected with the material 

 wants of man. Tracing the visible wealth of the country 

 to its source, we find that it has all, with insignificant ex- 

 ceptions, been produced from the soil. Generation after 

 generation has recklessly drawn on the stored fertility of 

 the land, with no systematic effort at restitution. The 

 value of all the possessions of our people, land excepted, 

 does not equal the sum total of three years production of 

 our industries. 



For food, clothing, shelter and fuel, we depend almost 



