32 SUGGESTIONS ON THE COLLECTING AND STUDY
There are
Numbers of species of AEcidium and Uredo are classed under
Uromyces and Puccinia, to which they are taken to be related as im-
perfect forms. This arrangement will be very confusing to the
young student, and we should certainly advise him to collect them
without any regard to their generic connection, reserving all this to
the future. Then he will find the names of upwards of seventy
species of AEcidium and more than that of Uredo. How many, and
which of these are found in Essex ? are the questions to be deter-
mined, and the Essex Field Club is the proper authority to settle
the problem.
What steps should be taken to attain this end ? Firstly, the
agents must volunteer to go forth from spring to autumn and collect
specimens, dry them, put them in envelopes, or attach them to
paper. Write thereon the name of the plant on which the parasite
was found, the locality and the date. To this may be added, the
genus of the parasite, whether AEcidium, Uredo, or Puccinia, &c.,
and, when certain of it, the name of the species. At the end of the
season all these little collections should be sent in to the Secretary,
the name of the collector, or his initials being attached to every
specimen. The next step will be for some one to revise the whole,
correct the errors, and compile a list of the species found during the
year. That this list should be submitted to the Meeting at the
Annual Fungus Foray, with the names of the collectors, and the
specimens either returned to the collectors, or deposited in the
Museum of the Club. By this means all the ordinary species will
be recorded the first year, and the rare ones will come to be re-
ported in succeeding years. This will not only render service to the
Club, but also to the members who undertake to collect; for the
latter will acquire experience and interest, and add to their own
store of knowledge. Both the Club, and its members, as well as
mycologists generally, will obtain benefit by this extension of the
functions and activities of the Essex Field Club.