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SUGGESTIONS ON THE COLLECTING AND
STUDY OF THE MINUTE FUNGI OF ESSEX.
By' M. C. COOKE, M.A., LL.D., A.L.S., &c.
[Read March 1st, 1890.]
CONSEQUENT upon some observations made recently at one of
the Meetings of the Club on the possibility of increasing its activ-
ity and utility in the direction of exploration and recording of the
minute vegetation of Epping Forest, an opportunity has been af-
forded for the explanation of the details of such investigation.
It may be premised that the first essential consists in a few earn-
est and energetic agents for the pursuit of this new departure. In
all these experiments success does not depend so much on the
number of participants as in their determination. A few, even a
very few, animated by the right spirit, will accomplish more than a
great many, where the animation is wanting, and the enthusiasm de-
ficient. Where two or three are gathered together for the accom-
plishment of a definite object, success may more readily be predicted
than from the surging turbulence of a crowd. The primary resolu-
tion must be taken to do something, to do it persistently, and to do
it systematically, the object now being to explore and record the
occurrence of some groups of the smaller fungi, which have not
come under review during the annual "forays" of the Club.
The first, and perhaps the easiest, of all these groups are the
Uredinous parasites of living plants—the "rusts," "smuts," and
"mildews," of the cultivator of the soil. Important because affect-
ing the production of food for man and beast, because they are in
effect the diseases of plants, analogous to the diseases which affect
the animal kingdom.
It must be assumed, in the first instance, that the persons about
to engage in this investigation have some knowledge of the common
plants of the locality, or, even if they have not a critical knowledge
of species, that they will take the trouble to obtain the assistance of
those who possess it, or else collect material sufficient for deter-
mination. In order to give value to such investigations it must be
known what the particular plant is—its specific identity—which is
afflicted by disease.