APPENDIX I.

Corresponding Societies Committee.-Report of the Committee, consisting of Mr. W. WHITAKER (Chairman), Mr. W. P. D. STEBBING (Secretary), Rev. J. O. BEVAN, Sir EDWARD BRABROOK, Dr. J. G. GARSON, Principal E. H. GRIFFITHS, Dr. A. C. HADDON, Mr. T. V. HOLMES, Mr. J. HOPKINSON, Mr. A. L. LEWIS, Mr. F. W. RUDLER, Rev. T. R. R. STEBBING, and the PRESIDENT and GENERAL OFFICERS. (Drawn up by the Secretary.)

THE Committee beg leave to recommend that the Ipswich and District Field Club, the Prehistoric Society of East Anglia, and the University of Durham Philosophical Society be placed on the list of Affiliated Societies. They also desire to report, as an example of the internationalisation of science, that the Instituts Solvay, a society, with its headquarters at Brussels, for the study of sociology, has asked for affiliation. This request, owing to the constitution of the British Association, it has been impossible to grant.

The membership of the Warrington Field Club still remains below. fifty, but as it seems to continue to do good work the Committee recommend its continuance on the list of Associated Societies for another year.

The Committee desire to record that the hour for meeting of the Conference of Delegates has been changed from 3 P.M. to 2 P.M.

Professor F. O. Bower has promised to preside at the Conference of Delegates at Dundee, and to deliver an Address on Sir Joseph Hooker.

Miss A. Lorrain Smith will communicate the results obtained by the British Mycological Society from the sending out of a circular on certain Fungoid Pests. Mr. A. R. Horwood, of Leicester, will also submit a preliminary report of the Selborne Society's Committee for the State Protection of Wild Plants.

The Corresponding Societies Committee recommend the following subject for discussion, which has been suggested by Mr. Wilfred Mark Webb, of the Selborne Society: The Brent Valley Bird Sanctuary: An Experiment in Bird Protection.' Mr. A. Newlands, of the Inverness Scientific Society and Field Club, also will open a discussion on Water Power and Industrial Development in the Scottish Highlands.

The Committee ask to be reappointed and, in consideration of the special labour involved in its work during each year, apply for a grant of 251.

Report of the Conference of Delegates of Corresponding Societies held at Dundee, September 5 and 10, 1912.

Chairman
Vice-Chairman
Secretary

Professor F. O. Bower.
H. W. T. Wager.

W. P. D. Stebbing.

FIRST MEETING, September 5.

The Chairman, in answer to questions relating to the proper recognition of the Conference, put it to the meeting that the names of the delegates and the subjects of the papers for discussion should be printed in the day's Journal, as was already done in the cases of the Committees of the Sections and the sectional papers. This was approved.

Mr. Oke, the Rev. T. R. R. Stebbing, Mr. Balfour Browne, and Mr. Mark Sykes having spoken on other matters relating to a more thorough recognition of the Conference, it was also agreed that a list of the delegates of the various Societies represented at the British Association meetings, with their attendances, should be printed in the Report of the Conference.

The Secretary read the Report of the Corresponding Societies Committee. It was agreed that a grant of 251. should be applied for at the meeting of the Committee of Recommendations. On the proposal of Dr. J. G. Garson, it was agreed that the Conference should nominate a second representative to attend the Committee. On Mr. Mark Webb's proposal, it was decided that the Secretary should be the second representative. (These motions have since been proved to be out of order, the Rules of the Association only allowing the Conference to nominate one member on the Committee of Recommendations.)

The Chairman then delivered his Address, entitled :

The Life and Work of Sir Joseph Hooker, O.M., F.R.S.1

He said that the death of Sir Joseph Hooker, in December 1911, might be held to have been one of the most outstanding events of the year. He did not give any consecutive biographical sketch of this great botanist, but indicated the various lines of activity in which he excelled. He contemplated him as a traveller and geographer, as a geologist, as a morphologist, as an administrator, as a scientific systematist, and, above all, as a philosophical biologist.

As a traveller Sir Joseph visited all the great circumpolar areas of the Southern Hemisphere. He spent almost four years in India. He botanised in Palestine and in Morocco, and finally in the Western States of America. The results he worked up into such great publications as 'The Antarctic Flora' and The Flora of British India.'

As an administrator Hooker guided for thirty years the destinies of Kew Gardens, and served for five years as President of the Royal Society. As a systematist he co-operated in the Genera Plantarum and the Kew Index. But it was as a philosophical biologist that he rose to the greatest heights. An early friend of Darwin, he was the first to accept his views. In 1859 Darwin himself wrote: As yet I know only one believer, but I look at him as of the greatest authority-viz., Hooker.' While Lyell wavered, and Huxley had not yet come in, Hooker was in 1859 a complete adherent to the doctrine of the mutability of species.

This position was confirmed by a masterly series of essays from Hooker's pen. The most notable was the introduction to the Flora of Tasmania.' The last was that great address to the Geographical Section of the British Association at York in 1881 on The Geographical Distribution of Organic Beings.' It was such works as these which led to the cumulative result that he was universally held to have been the most distinguished botanist of his time.

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1 Printed in full in the Makers of British Botany, Cambridge University Press, 1912.

Sir Edward Brabrook (Balham and District Antiquarian and N.H. Society) proposed, on behalf of the Conference, a vote of thanks to the Chairman. His subject was most appropriate, and was a most eloquent and valuable study. It suitably gave point to the famous opening-Let us now speak of great men. Professor M. C. Potter (Durham University Philosophical Society), in seconding the vote, thought that the meeting would regard the Address as a most stimulating account of one of the greatest of the great scientific minds of the nineteenth century.

Miss A. Lorrain Smith reported on the results obtained by the British Mycological Society from the sending out of a circular on certain fungoid pests. She said that, following on a suggestion by Mr. Harold Wager, a committee of the Society had been formed to draw up a series of questions which might afford direction and guidance to members of local Natural History Societies in their study of fungi. It was felt that workers living in the country had many opportunities of making careful observations and collecting specimens which would be of service to research students. The questions submitted had reference mainly to diseases of fruit and forest trees, about which data were urgently desired. The questions were as follows:

·

1. The very serious disease known as 'Silver-leaf' (so called because the leaves become of a silvery colour), which affects fruit-trees, particularly the Victoria plum, is now thought to be caused probably by Stereum purpureum, the sporophores of which appear on the dead wood of the affected trees. Observations on the following points would be valuable : (a) The distribution of Stereum purpureum as a parasite or saprophyte in the district.

(b) The habitat, with exact identification of the dead tree, shrub, or wood on which the sporophores are found.

(c) Did 'silvery' foliage occur on the tree or shrub previous to the occurrence of the sporophores on the dead wood?

2. Many British trees are greatly injured by the growth of fungi belonging to the Polyporaceæ. Information is wanted as to :

(a) The name of the trees affected; and

(6) The name of the Polypore causing the injury.

3. A revision of the British Clavariaceae is being made by Mr. A. E. Cotton, F.L.S., of The Herbarium, Royal Gardens, Kew, who would be much obliged if members of local Natural History Societies would forward to him at the above address specimens of this order for identification and examination.

The committee of her Society also asked the secretaries of the local Natural History Societies to inform them as to the number of their members interested in the study of mycology, and if any lists of fungi or papers thereon had been published by them. The questions were sent to over 100 secretaries of societies. Miss Smith was disappointed to record that so far only four had acknowledged them. No further response had been received, although the subjects on which information was needed were not minute in size. She explained, however, that the fungus season was over before the circular was issued, and that possibly the subject would be taken up in the coming autumn months.

As a result of the discussion the delegates present undertook to lay the matter before their societies, and, so far as possible, to induce their members to co-operate with the British Mycological Society.

Mr. H. N. Davies (Somersetshire Archæological and Natural History Society) asked that copies of the questions should be sent to delegates as well as to the secretaries of the societies. His Society seemed not to have received the paper, and he wondered if those which were not exclusively Natural History Societies had been overlooked.

Mr. Harold Wager thought the questions put by the British Mycological Society were very suitable for investigation by the local societies, and he hoped that the delegates present would be able to induce their members to take up these and similar problems for investigation. As showing what valuable work

can be done, it is worthy of notice that the Mycological Committee of the Yorkshire Naturalists' Union has during the last twenty-seven years published no less than 178 reports, papers, and notes on British fungi, especially on those found in Yorkshire, and has recorded nearly three thousand species (2,895 up to March 1912) from the county, of which a considerable number are new to Britain, and many of them new to science. The published papers and reports deal mainly with the systematic determination of species, but papers on economic topics, and on the structure and life-histories of fungi, are also included. In addition, a bibliography of fungi of the North of England and a valuable and well-arranged fungus flora of Yorkshire have also been published. There can be no doubt that substantial additions to our knowledge of fungi and of problems connected with them can be made by local societies, and it is hoped that the suggestions brought forward by Miss Lorrain Smith will not be lost sight of by the societies represented at this Conference, the members of which. he felt sure, are all anxious to do some real work for the advancement of science.

Sir George Fordham (Hertfordshire N.H. Society and Field Club) wished to deal with a larger question than that specifically dealt with by the communication. He pointed out that certain plant diseases the American Gooseberry Mildew in particular-were obtaining a very serious and destructive prevalence, and were being dealt with by the local authorities under orders made by the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries, and he thought it was very evident that more and more of such diseases as are injurious to agriculture would be scheduled. Of course, for such work expert officials exist, and others will be appointed and paid, but he considered it of great importance that public opinion and public knowledge should be cultivated extensively, and that investigations as to the extent of the prevalence of injurious diseases of this character should be also carried on by local societies. Such action would be welcomed by County Councils and otherwise would be of great assistance in dealing with diseases and insect pests.

The delegates of the Glasgow N.H. Society and the Perthshire Society of Natural Science and the Chairman also joined in the discussion.

The State Protection of Wild Plants.

Mr. A. R. Horwood (Leicester Museum) submitted the following preliminary report of the Selborne Society's Committee for considering this subject. In Mr. Horwood's absence the Report was read by the Secretary.

From time to time efforts have been made to draw attention to the necessity of protecting and preserving our native flora. At the present time, however, the energy spent upon the question is entirely inadequate, and the results so far have not been commensurate with the efforts put forth. It is the object of this communication to report progress and to make a further appeal for help and co-operation.

The Selborne Society, whose object has always been to preserve Nature in all aspects, has recently established a section of which Dr. A. B. Rendle is chairman, and the writer recorder. This small association so far represents the only organised body endeavouring to bring about State protection. Professor G. S. Boulger, a member of this section, who was instrumental in forming it, has a draft of the Bill it is intended to introduce already framed.

The section has endeavoured to forward this national question in three principal ways:

1. By educating the public as to its need (by leaflets, notices, articles, &c.). 2. By obtaining co-operation in the prevention of destructive agencies. 3. By endeavouring to obtain permanent interest and help in all parts of the country for the canvassing of all sections of the public at the right moment to make an appeal that cannot be put aside.

By aid of the County Councils the schools of this country have each received leaflets and cards deprecating wholesale extirpation of wild flowers, and suggesting the proper way and time to collect them.

It is now proposed to obtain the assistance of County Councils in the framing

of bye-laws preventing hawking, &c., along highways in every county. The Rural District Councils are asked also to prevent the evil effects of road trimming and scraping upon wayside flowers, if only from the aesthetic standpoint. The secretaries of scientific societies and associations are asked to form a local branch by appointing corresponding secretaries to keep the section in touch with local needs, and to afford all the help that such a widely organised basis for propaganda supplies. This appeal in advance will reach many to whom otherwise the section would not have had access.

The Rev. F. Smith (Prehistoric Society of East Anglia) affirmed that nurserymen and people who traffic in rare specimens and varieties are the great exterminators of plants in many localities. Cases of the kind had come to his notice during the past thirty-five years in Scotland. He considered that the British Association should make a point of helping in the protection of wild plants. He also felt that schoolchildren ought not to be sent about the country to collect plants to be used in their schools-a procedure too common with teachers.

Mr. Wilson L. Fox (Royal Cornwall Polytechnic Society) supported the observations of the previous speaker. He mentioned that in a book by the Rev. C. A. Johns, entitled 'A Week at the Lizard' the habitat of several rare plants and ferns is mentioned, of which that district is now practically depleted, owing to the ravages of local dealers. He had heard of hampers of more or less rarities having been sent off to collectors and others, for which a sum of as much as 51. had been paid for one consignment. As an instance, the Royal Fern (Osmunda regalis), once common in many valleys in Cornwall, is now seldom met with except in private grounds. In this way the Cornish chough has become practically extinct, through the eggs being sold, he had been informed, for 11. or more apiece, notwithstanding that it is protected under the Wild Birds Protection Act. He feared legislation, though it might be useful to a certain extent, was not a sufficient deterrent in cases where rare specimens could command a commercial value. An efficient remedy was needed. He suggested that perhaps the most effectual one would be to have plant and fern sanctuaries, or at least gardens set apart in different localities, where under proper cultivation and suitable conditions every rare British species might be preserved in one situation or another to prevent its extermination.

Mr. E. A. Martin (South-Eastern Union of Scientific Societies) said that the question as to the means to be taken to preserve plants would require careful consideration. He was strongly opposed to parliamentary action. Laws were not made to manufacture criminals, and to think that children who gathered amongst common flowers a few rarer ones should come under the purview of the law was abhorrent. At the same time he thought that greater care should be taken by those in charge of children to prevent plants from being promiscuously uprooted, and where only two or three of a species were found none should be plucked. An Act of Parliament would do little good and much harm. What was wanted was a better feeling amongst teachers toward Nature, and the great remedy is education in that direction.

Mr. R. M. Wilson (for Essex Field Club) supported the remarks made as to the extirpation of plants, and gave as an illustration meeting a man on Ben More, in Perthshire, carrying a hamper of rare ferns gathered in the vicinity. These ferns he proposed sending to a nurseryman in Glasgow to whom he had sent other consignments, and for which he had received payment, and produced a postal order for 15s. This man had Moore's book on British Ferns, and visited all the localities specified therein in his search.

Mrs. White (School Nature-Study Union) said that her Society had a membership of fifteen hundred teachers, and that the committee of her Society had already considered this subject. They were doing all they could to impress upon teachers the necessity of teaching Nature-study with the least possible destruction of the common flowers and with the complete preservation of the rarer plants.

At a later point in the discussion on this subject, Mrs. White suggested the insertion of an article, putting forward the views of the Conference of Delegates, in the Journal of the Union. This was published five times yearly, and was edited by Miss von Wyss, of the London Day Training College. It would reach about two thousand teachers. The meeting being in agreement with the sugges