266 Transactions. — Botany. 



two of the ordinary meetings of the Hawke's Bay Philosophical Institute 

 held in 1883 ; and although I knew the genera of some of them, yet in 

 order the better to ascertain their generic and specific 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 Annates 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 widely distributed forms remain to be collected." 



1. Polyporus exiguus, sp. nov. 



A small semi-stipitate flabellate whitish fungus, of horizontal growth, 

 among mosses, on the bark of old trees near their bases ; wet woods near 

 Norsewood, Waipawa County ; 1883 : 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. ... In the 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. 364). 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 



