ESSEX FIELD CLUB'S FUNGUS FORAY." 167
Take three species common in the Forest—Amanita muscaria,
Armillaria mellea, and Boletus scaber—each of which recurs in a
given locality, when, for want of a more exact term, we may say
conditions are favourable. Having selected a site where the
fungus is present in abundance, take monthly, or, still better,
fortnightly measurements of the temperature of the soil at a
depth of six inches below the surface ; humidity of the soil—if
possible, the proportion of humic acid in the soil—also general
atmospheric conditions as to temperature and moisture.
If the above suggestions could be followed out for, say, ten
years, supplemented, as a matter of course, by the relative
annual crop of fungi growing within the experimental area, some
inkling, at least, of certain of the conditions that collectively
determine the presence or absence of different species of fungi
would be arrived at ; such would rank as pioneer work on a
subject where everything has yet to be done, and which will be
done some day ; hence, why not by members of the Essex Field
Club?
Returning to the subject of the Foray, a pleasing feature—
as a set-off to what has been stated above—was the presence of
members who promise to become important auxiliaries to the
already-existing band of mycologists who yearly explore the
Forest ; but why the Forest always, or nearly so ? The body
inaugurating the foray is the Essex Field Club, and not the
Epping Forest Club, as some members residing in other parts of
Essex might be led to imagine.
The display of fungi on the tables was the best that has
been seen for many years. Altogether, 134 species were col-
lected, including such rarities as Tricholoma acerba, Collybia fodiens,
C. bibulosa, Nolanea pisciodora, and Torula ovalispora. The presence
of the veteran Mycologist, Dr. M. C. Cooke, was a source of
pleasure, combined with instruction, to everyone.
Finally, we have in Great Britain just over five thousand
species of fungi ; of these about one thousand are Agarics or gill-
bearing species, mostly appearing during the autumn months,
and considered by the majority of people as constituting the
whole of our Fungus flora. For this reason, probably, fungus
forays are always held in the autumn, when the larger forms are
presumed to be present : the result is that the list of species
enumerated by those societies that countenance a foray is rich in
Agarics and allied forms, but miserably defective in the remain-