THE ESSEX FIELD CLUB.
233
fungi, that fungus-hunters have been almost driven to despair. It has been the
custom to make a list at these excursions of all the species identified during the
day, and the totals are compared year by year. At the corresponding excursion
last year, the list included some 150 species, of which twenty were new to the
Forest, but on the present occasion the list only reaches 108, and only four new
species (or five, including a new Mould of great interest), and two well-marked
varieties were determined. The species found for the first time in the Forest area
were Agaricus (Pholiota) praecox, Ag. semi-vestitus, Cortinarius torvus, and
Trichia scabra. The new Mould was Rhinotrichum aureum. The incident of
the day, however, was the finding of Hydnum diversidens upon some trunks in
Monk's Wood. This species was first found in Britain in 1884, when Dr. H. T.
Wharton collected it from a trunk at Fairmead (Epping Forest), and since then it
has only once been met with until the present occasion. It is a rare species in all
parts of Europe. As for the residue of the day's gathering, it was, on the whole,
very commonplace; the number of individuals of all species were very few, and
those of the most ordinary kind. Even those discovered for the first time in the
Forest are common enough in other parts of the country, and some species usually
common everywhere could not be seen at all. Only six specimens of the well-
known "chantarelle" could be found, and these are usually collected by the
basketful for cooking. Not a single Boletus edulis could be seen anywhere, while
such things as Agaricus velutinus, Ag. infundibuliformis, Marasmius peronatus,
Craterellus cornucopioides, Panus stypticus, &c., could not be seen at all. The
most prominent genus was Russula, but of all the seventy British species of
Tricholoma there were but two, and of the fifty-three species of Clitocybe there
were but two, and thus throughout the whole of the white-spored Agarics. This
peculiarity was also remarked in 1888. Although of the single large genus Agaricus
no fewer than 825 species are recorded for Great Britain, only 34 were recognized
during that day in the Forest. The edible fungi collected, at all fit for the table,
would not have constituted more than one meal for a healthy man."
The venue of the Club's meeting was changed from Buckhurst Hill to Theydon
Bois, from a desire to investigate the N. and N.E. sides of the Forest, where the
late Mr. English used to gather so many interesting forms. The search on the
Friday was conducted by Dr. Cooke and Mr. Massee in the woods north of
Epping, and the specimens collected were taken to the head-quarters for the meet-
ing, "Riggs' Rooms," Theydon Bois, in the afternoon. On the Saturday morning
and afternoon parties of members explored some of the surrounding woods, Monk's
Woods, Theydon Woods, &c. The weather was very pleasant, and strong hopes
had been entertained that the 1889 foray would redeem the character of Epping
Forest as a mycological hunting ground, but the soil was so hard and dry, not-
withstanding the recent rains, that all kinds of fungi were very scarce. Dr.
Cooke reports:—" The total number of species determined as having been
seen during the two days was 138, being less than last year, which also was
unfavourable. Although the total was small, it included one species, Paxillus
alexandri, new to the British Islands, and five species additional to the Essex list,
viz., Agaricus (Clitocybe) gallinaceus, Fr. ; Russula linnaei, Fr. ; R. incarnata,
Q. ; Lycoperdon saccatum, Fr. ; and Diachoea leucopoda, Bull."
On the Saturday the specimens collected were arranged on tables in Riggs'
Rooms (on the verge of the Forest at Theydon Bois) by Dr. Cooke and Mr. Massee.
Beside the specimens collected during the two days' hunting, various other
specimens were exhibited. Mr. J. T. Powell showed a long series of plants from
R