REPORT OF THE BOTANIST- 



Hon. David Murray, LL. D., Secretary of the Board of Regents of 

 the University : 



Sir — Since the date of my last report, specimens of two hundred 

 and thirty-nine species of plants have been mounted and placed in 

 the Herbarium in the State Museum of Natural History, of which one 

 hundred and sixty-seven were not before represented therein. Seventy- 

 two species have been represented by better specimens or by the addi- 

 tion of specimens of some form or variety not before shown . A list 

 of the mounted specimens is marked (1). Specimens have been col- 

 lected in the counties of Albany, Columbia, Dutchess, Essex, Greene, 

 Hamilton, Franklin, Rensselaer, Schenectady, Saratoga, Ulster and 

 Warren. These represent one hundred and ninety-seven species, of 

 which eighty-five are new to the Herbarium and thirty-eight are be- 

 lieved to be unpublished. A list of collected specimens is marked (2). 

 Specimens of thirteen New York species, new to the Herbarium and 

 not among my own collections, have been contributed by correspond- 

 ents, or have been obtained in naming specimens for them. These, 

 added to the collected species, make the whole number of additions 

 new to the Herbarium, ninety-eight species. A list of contributors 

 and their contributions is marked (3). Previously unreported species 

 will be noticed and descriptions of new species given in a part of the 

 report marked (4). New stations of rare plants, remarks upon inter- 

 esting species or varieties, and various observations are recorded in a 

 part marked (5). 



The plants designated by the term "fungi," are very numerous, 

 whether we speak of them as individual plants or as species. In lo- 

 calities where they have been most thoroughly collected and investi- 

 gated they outnumber in species the larger and far more conspicuous 

 flowering plants. They are also extremely varied in their characters 

 and habits. All, however, are comparatively small in size, but few 

 species ever attaining the length or breadth of a single foot. If we ex- 

 cept the fleshy and speedily perishable sorts which are not generally 

 very abundant, we may say that most of the species are too small to 

 be readily distinguished by the naked eye. And of no species is it pos- 

 sible for the unaided eye to distinguish clearly the shape and features 

 of the spores (seeds). Even the entire plant in multitudes of species 

 would probably wholly escape observation and detection if they had 

 not the habit of growing in masses or patches of many individuals 

 closely congregated together, for masses of minute objects become 

 visible when the single elements that compose them are invisible. 

 They sometimes produce changes also in or on the substances they in- 

 habit, which attract attention and lead to their discovery. Such 

 changes were known and noticed long before the fungi that produce 



