THE ESSEX FIELD CLUB.
293
THE ANNUAL CRYPTOGAMIC MEETING AND
196TH ORDINARY MEETING.
Saturday, October 6th, 1900.
The "Fungus Foray" was held on this day in Epping Forest and was
very numerously attended. The meeting was an all-day one, and the Head-
quarters were established at the "Kings Oak" Hotel, High Beach.
The Referees for Botany were Dr. M, C. Cooke, Mr. George Massee,
F.L.S., and Mr. R. Paulson. The arrangements were quite as usual at these
annual assemblies. A large well-lighted room at the Hotel with abundance
of table-space was reserved for the exhibition of specimens, and as a meeting-
place all day. The only innovation was one intended to give employment for
non-botanical attendants at the meeting. It was suggested that some atten-
tion should be paid to the species of Spiders occurring in the woods, and Mr.
F. 0 Pickard-Cambridge and Mr. Frank P. Smith (author of the excellent
papers on the group now appearing in Science Gossip), kindly promised their
valuable aid. It was hoped that some members might be induced to take up
this very promising field of study. The only paper hitherto published by the
Club, is that in Vol. IV. of the Transactions (pp. 41-49), "A Contribution to
the Knowledge of the Arachnida of Epping Forest," by the Rev. O. Pickard-
Cambridge, M.A., F.L.S. A supply of small bottles and tubes, with spirits,
&c., was provided in the meeting room, and several persons, including Mr.
W. M. Webb, Mr. W. Cole, Mr. Hildyard, with Mr. Pickard-Cambridge and
Mr. Smith, worked hard during the day to procure specimens, not without
success as the Report in the present part on the Spiders observed will show.
The first party reached Loughton Station at 12 o'clock, and others
arrived throughout the afternoon, making their way to the woods in Honey
Lane Quarters and to Monk Woods, &c. Several members of the Selbourne
Society honoured us by attending the Meeting.
Fungi were not very numerous in individuals, but as Mr. Massee's
report indicates, the gatherings, especially among the smaller species,
were unusually interesting. Some of the hunters were delighted to find the
pretty "Birds-nest Fungus" (Cyathus vernicosus) very commonly on twigs
among the fallen leaves in the woods in Honey Lane Quarters.
At about six o'clock the party which had then greatly increased in
numbers, sat down to tea, the President, Mr. David Howard in the chair.
Among those present were Prof. Sylvanus Thompson, F.R.S., Mr. Horace T.
Brown, F.R.S., and Prof Meldola, F.R.S., and Mr. John Spiller, F.C.S.
After tea, the party moved into the exhibition room, and the Ordinary
Meeting (196TH) was held, the President in the chair.
The following were elected members of the Club:—Rev. A. F. Hunt,
M.A., and Mr. Tyndale White, J.P.
The Secretary announced that the Essex Museum of Natural History at
Stratford would be opened by tho Countess of Warwick on Thursday,
October 18th, and that the winter evening meetings of the Club would be
resumed at the Technical Institute, adjoining the Museum, on Saturday,
October 27th.