The President's Address. 
95 
ried this view further, and endeavoured to show that the pe- 
cuHar form and structure of grains of starch are due to 
minute quantities of inorganic matter. For this process he 
has adopted the term " molecular coalescence/' These ob- 
servations are interesting in connection with the views of 
those who are opposed to the cell- theory of Schleiden and 
Schwann, and who prefer to speak of the whole of the phe- 
nomena of the formation of the tissues of plants and animals 
as a process of ^' differentiation." In connection with this 
subject, a paper by Professor Williamson, in the last October 
number of the J ournal,^ ^ On some Histological Features of 
the Shells of Crustacea,' is well deserving attention. He 
there shows that certain tissues in the shells of the Crustacea 
that had been regarded as cellular in their structure, are pro- 
duced in a protoplasmic matter, independent of cells or nuclei. 
I will not, however, enter here further into the matter, but 
call your attention to this subject as a field inviting further 
inquiry, and likely to yield abundant fruits to those who have 
leisure and opportunity for its culture. 
To Mr. Currey the pages of our ^ Journal ' are largely in- 
debted for his varied contributions in the field of mycology. 
His ^ Mycological Notes,' in the number of the ' J ournal ' for 
July, is an example of how various observations on the same 
series of objects may be communicated with great advan- 
tage to those who are working in the same direction. In 
these busy days, when so many observers are investigating the 
same subjects, it becomes a matter of importance to all to 
know what others are doing, so that no time may be wasted 
in re-discovering what others have done. In connection with 
the subject of mycology, I may also draw attention to a 
translation in the last number of the ^Journal,' in which M. 
De Bary attempts to show that a certain group of the Fungi 
are rather of an animal than of a vegetable nature. Although 
considerable doubts may be thrown on M. De Bary's conclu- 
sions, his observations indicate the interest that still attaches 
to the question of the limits between the animal and the 
vegetable kingdoms. It is only by the aid of the microscope, 
used by well-trained observers, that such a question can be 
decided ; and large groups of forms belonging to the Proto- 
phyta and Protozoa present themselves for investigation on 
this subject. Here, too, is a district in which perhaps the 
inquiries of the microscopist may come in to assist the in- 
quiry which has just been opened by one of our most dis- 
tinguished naturalists as to the origin of species.* It is only 
* On the 'Origin of Species/ bj Charles Darwin, P.R.S. 
VOL. VIII. W 
