THE HISTORY OF MYCOLOGY IN ESSEX.
273
different appearances two, or perhaps, three times—Mr. S.
has I believe the following works on Fungi which you no doubt
can easily borrow of him
Batch—Elenchus-Fungorum.
Boltons—History of Fungi, etc.
Persoons—Books, several.
Bulliard—Champignon de France.
Schaeffer's Fungi, etc.
I hear that the Flora Londinensis is bought by Mr. Saml.
Curtis (of the estate of Wm. Curtis), whether he means to
publish or sell the copy-right I know not.
Begging to be remembered to Mrs. Smith and the rest of
the family,
I remain,
Sir,
Yours sincerely,
B. M. Forster.
The third son, Edward Forster the younger (1765-1849), is
the best known, mainly because for thirty-three years he was
Treasurer of the Linnean Society. He was a successful business
man, but from the age of fifteen was keenly interested in British
Botany. For the greater part of his life he rose at six and spent
an hour in his garden before breakfast, or occupied himself
with his collections. His evenings he devoted to reading and
to his herbarium. He travelled a good deal about the country
and made lists of the plants he saw. He then copied out these
in note books and later arranged them. From a remark in a
biographical note on Forster in Gibson's Flora of Essex I gathered
that some note books had been in that author's possession,
and Mr. Percy Thompson informed me that these were at
Saffron Walden. Mr. Hubert Collar, of the Saffron Walden
Museum, has kindly lent them to me. They have since been
transferred to the British Museum (Dept. of Botany). Of the
seven, one contains a note about Mrs. Delaney's plant mosaics,
extracts and observations from Dr. Goldsmith and "rubbings"
of leaves, one gives lists of plants collected on his excursions,
whereas four have the habitats of the plants gathered together
(two are labelled "Habitationes Plantarum," the first volume
having "Edward Forster Junr. begun 1791" inside). One of
the volumes has all Essex records and has written in it "1-6