310 THE ESSEX NATURALIST.
rewarded the 40 Members and friends who "carried on" throughout the
day of the Club's annual Cryptogamic foray.
The referees for the day were :—
For mosses and hepatics: Mr. L. B. Hall, F.L.S., and Mr. W. R.
Sherrin, A.L.S.
For lichens : Miss A. Lorrain Smith, F.L.S., and the President, Mr.
R. Paulson, F.L.S., F.R.M.S.
For fungi and Myxomycetes : Miss G. Lister, F.L.S.
The route chosen was from Theydon Bois to High Beach ; the heavy
rain of the morning made it desirable to keep fairly close to the roads,
whence, however, frequent short divergencies into the thickets were made
for collecting purposes.
The headquarters were, as heretofore, at the Roserville Retreat, High
Beach, and here a goodly show of interesting finds was made during the
afternoon.
Tea was served at 4.15 o'clock, after which a formal meeting (the 522nd)
of the Club was held, with the President in the chair.
Miss Ethel M. Mathias and Mr. Albert James Nunn, both of 45,
Hargwyne Street, Brixton, S.W. 9, were elected Members of the Club, and
four candidates were nominated for election.
The President called upon each of the referees in turn for a report on
the day's finds.
Miss Lister reported that 11 forms of Myxomycetes had been met with,
a poor yield due to the dry weather which, until that morning, had persisted
for some weeks. Of these, only two Badhamia panicea and Diderma
radiatum var. umbilicatum had not been recorded at the fungus foray of last
month. Turning to the fungi, she called attention to several of the
agarics on the tables and specially to the fine specimen of woody mycelium
of Armillaria mellea, and referred to the aid which this rhizomorph yields,
in Japanese forests, to epiphytic orchids in obtaining their nitrogenous
food.
Mr. Hall announced that 42 species of mosses and hepatics had been
found during the day, including Zygodon Forsteri in vigorous condition
in one of its old stations.
Mr. Sherrin reported that some interesting forms of Sphagnum had
been met with, but required more minute study to determine their specific
and varietal identity. He remarked that the specimen of Sphagnum
fimbriatum found at last year's foray appeared to be a new record for the
county.
Mr. Paulson, in Miss Lorrain Smith's absence (she having had to leave
earlier on account of poor health), spoke eulogistically of her work in
Lichenology, and reported that 20 named forms of lichens had been recorded
during the day, mostly ground forms or "soil-lichens." Mr. Paulson
made some remarks on the sporulation of the algal-cells within the lichen
thallus, to be seen in sections of the thallus cut from near the tips of the
branches, as many as 32 daughter-cells having been seen ; he added that
his observations had been confined to those lichens having as their con-
stitutents the green algae (Chlorophyceae) Chlorella and Protococcus, the latter
of which occurs in very few species, while the former is almost ubiquitous.