REPORTS OF MEETINGS 237
Ordinary Meeting (913th Meeting)
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 29TH, 1949
This meeting, held in the West Ham Municipal College, was attended
by some sixty members and friends and the chair was taken by the President,
Mr. L. S. Harley.
The President referred to the loss sustained by the Club by the deaths
of two of its Vice-Presidents, Miss Gulielma Lister, F.L.S., and Mr. D. J.
Scourfield, I.S.O., F.R.M.S., F.L.S., F.Z.S., during the last few months.
Mr. Thompson spoke of the great and numerous gifts to the Museum which
had been made by Miss Lister. For many years she was a regular caller at
the Museum and usually greeted him with the words, "I have brought you a
present" ; then out would some a further donation to the Club's collections.
Her greatest contributions were the collections of Mycetozoa and Coniferae,
but wherever one looked were to be seen specimens which she had provided.
He also spoke of Mr. Scourfield, to whom he was related by marriage.
Mr. Scourfield, in addition to his scientific contributions to the Club, had
made a handsome monetary donation to its funds some twenty years ago and
had now bequeathed a further sum to its finances. All those present stood
in silence as a mark of respect to the memory of these two illustrious members.
Miss R. Finzel, of 1, Selsdon Road, Wanstead, E.11, was elected a Junior
member of the club.
Mr. Bernard Ward then showed, on behalf of Mr. W. R. Glegg, a skin of
the Edible or Squirrel-tailed Dormouse. Mr. Glegg presented the specimen
to the Museum and sent the following notes : The specimen of the Edible
or Squirrel-tailed Dormouse (Glis glis) which I now exhibit is a female and
was taken by Mr. A. H. Bishop, who has kindly presented it, in one of the
lodges of Tring Park, Hertfordshire, on June 13th, 1949. This rodent was
introduced at Tring by the late Walter, Lord Rothschild. In what numbers
and when it was liberated is not known but it is safe to say that it was in
the last fifty years. Judging by the specimens which have been received
at Tring Museum, the species appears now to be established and spreading
from the original point of liberation, for some have been taken some two or
three miles from Tring Park. Unlike the Grey Squirrel, the presence of this
species is difficult to detect and it may have spread further than is known.
It would not be surprising to learn that it had reached adjoining counties such
as Essex.
The natural habitat of the species is southern and eastern Europe, where
it extends from Spain, Greece and Italy, through South and Central Germany
to Austria, Syria and the south of Russia; it is unknown in Denmark and
Scandinavia. In general habits it resembles closely the Common Dormouse
but it generally lies concealed during the day in the hollow of a tree, the cleft
of a rock or the burrow of another rodent and its breeding nest is invariably
concealed in some such situation and is never built among the boughs of
bushes like that of the English Dormouse. In autumn it becomes very fat
and in such condition it was esteemed as a delicacy by the Romans. The
period of hibernation lasts for fully seven months and the animals rarely
re-appear before the latter part of April. The young are usually from
three to six in number. In addition to various nuts and berries the Edible
Dormouse consumes fruit and is said to devour also small birds and other
animals. This account is based on that of R. Lydekker (The Royal Natural
History, vol. 3).
Mr. Pratt showed specimens of various fungi gathered during the Club's
informal field meeting on the previous Thursday afternoon. He also showed
photographs taken by him of Amanita mappa and a species of Lactarius.
Mr. Hazzledine Warren, who was particularly welcomed after his recent
absence through illness, exhibited part of a large algal concretion showing