WITH A CATALOGUE OF THE SPECIES.
255
esculent, and gradually popular names will be recognized; but, for
accurate study, scientific names can no more be superseded than can
the scientific names of moths and butterflies.
Having adverted to the past, we may ask, What can be done
in the future ? Is the fungus catalogue for Essex complete, or
moderately complete ? Our answer must be : Certainly not! All
Essex is not included in the Forest area, and all groups of Fungi
have not yet been brought within the limits of the researches of the
Essex Field Club. There are still a large number of the gill-bearing
Fungi which there is no reason to think are all absent from Essex,
and, moreover, there are swarms of Microscopic Fungi which are
practically untouched, certainly unexplored, It would be well if
some steps could be taken now to widen the field of exploration,
and to bring all Essex Fungi within the purview of the Essex Field
Club. To this end workers are required; Forest collectors, to
begin with, who will collect specimens, attach date and locality, and
afterwards place them in the hands of someone for identification.
These are not like the larger Fungi; they can be preserved from
year to year without injury, and may be determined, even in the
winter, and when no outdoor work can be carried on. A little
knowledge, of a very elementary character, and sharp eyes are all
the requisites, and with these it need not be long before some
hundreds of names are added to the Essex Catalogue, which, from
the proximity of the county to the metropolis, and the magnificent
area of its forest, should stand at the head of all similar lists.
Surely, with so excellent a commencement as the present list, and
its great facilities for augmenting it, the Essex Field Club should not
remain indifferent to the exigencies of the case, but should ascertain
if it be not possible to organize its forces in some way for the more
exhaustive exploration of the whole of the Fungi of Essex, or, at the
very least, those of the Forest area.
[In the following list the late Mr. English's records are dis-
tinguished by the letter "(E.)," and some of Mr. Worthington G.
Smith's by "(W. G. S.)." The word "Epping" in these records
must be interpreted somewhat widely; it includes the woods near
the town, with Monk's Wood, Theydon Woods, &c.—in short, the
more northern parts of the Forest. In most cases the precise
indication of localities is purposely avoided as being almost useless ;
Fungi are very capricious and evanescent in their places of growth,
slight local changes often bringing about the appearance or disappear-
ance of species.—Ed.]