234 THE ESSEX FIELD CLUB.
his Herbarium, illustrating the Flora of the Forest. Mr. R. Paulson brought a
series of about sixty species of British Carices, including all the forms he had found
in the Forest. Mr. W. White exhibited a collection of fresh fungi from North-
umberland, gathered near Hexham, and forwarded to him by Mr. Faraday Spence
(of the Tyneside Naturalists' Field Club). Dr. H. T. Wharton showed a specimen
of Sparassis crispa, found growing under Scotch firs in Talbot Woods, Bourne-
mouth. Prof. Boulger, Mr. Walter Crouch, Mr. Oldham and other members also
showed specimens. Collections, as large as the scarcity of fungi would allow, were
made by many members, and a fairly good series was gradually massed upon the
tables.
At about 5 o'clock on the Saturday the usual tea was served, and afterwards an
Ordinary Meeting (the 107th) was held, Mr. E. A. Fitch, President, in the
chair.
The following were elected members of the Club :—Messrs. Frank Barnes, Alfred
Double, C.C, F.S.S., and Harold Raeburn.
The Librarian brought up two folio volumes of the new MS. Catalogue of books
in the Library, which was nearly completed. Mr. Wire said that he had been
greatly aided in the work by Mr. W. Greatheed.
Mr. Wire also exhibited a series of photographs of places visited by the Club
during the past season, taken by himself.
The results of the two days' explorations were then detailed by Dr. Cooke and
comparisons instituted between the Essex list of Fungi and those published by other
countries, notably that of Herefordshire. The whole number of Agraricini found
in Britain now reaches 1,338 species, of which 483 have been recorded for Here-
fordshire, and now about 410 for Essex. This was considered to be a very favour-
able result, seeing that continuous excursions of four days each have been held by
the Woolhope Club for the past twenty years, that a variety of localities have been
explored, that a greater humidity and variety of soil characterise the Hereford-
shire districts, and a larger number of experienced workers have every year been
associated with the excursions. Following upon these remarks, allusion was made
to the life and labours of the late Rev. J. M. Berkeley, especially in connection
with mycology, and the sympathetic audience listened for some time, with manifest
interest, to reminiscences of the twenty-five years of intercourse between the
speaker and the deceased.4
Dr. Cooke then gave an address on the "Unexplored Fungi of Epping Forest,"
alluding more especially to the microscopic forms, and urging the young and active
members of the Club, efficient in the use of the microscope, to turn their attention
to these plants, which were largely represented in Essex, but which had hitherto
been much neglected. The only paper yet published by the Club was the
speaker's "Preliminary List of the Microscopic Fungi of Essex—Ustilaganei and
Aecidiomycetes" (Essex Naturalist, i, pp. 184—86). Dr. Cooke suggested
that there were two or three compact groups which might be taken up independently
by different individuals, and explored with advantage. Such were the Myxogasters,
the Discomycetes, and the Uredinous fungi, for all of which handy and recent
text-books were available at a cheap rate ; so that there was no longer excuse
for leaving so many of the minute fungi of Essex without investigation.6 A
4 A sketch of Mr. Berkeley's life and labours, from Dr. Cooke's pen, will be found in
"Grevillea" for September, 1889 (vol- xviii, p. 17.)
5 Dr. Cooke has since written a paper for the Club on the Study of the Micro-Fungi, which will
be printed in the next volume of the Essex Naturalist.—Ed.