MYCETOZOA IN EPPING FOREST IN 1949-50 281
In 1945 I obtained in the Bathing
Pool at Leigh a Cyanea (possibly C.
lamarckii) about 21/2 inches in diameter
and kept it alive for a week. It
dropped its ovarian strings and I
obtained the eggs; the majority en-
cysted and some of the encystments
produced hydra tubae in subsequent
years. AU these hydra tubae were
incredibly small; they would not feed
and died out in 1949. This is a very
delicate form.
The Cerianthus described in Essex
Nar., 26, p. 131, is still alive and well.
The sketch depicts the creature ex-
tended from its tube in the mud as it
appeared after heavy feeding. Its total
length in this state is about five inches.
As evidence of the immense diffi-
culties to be faced in researches on
Medusae I gather that the British
Museum still has no increase in its
collection of metamorphic stages—
other than those which emanated from
my back room in 1923.
F. J. Lambert
9 November 1950.
MYCETOZOA IN EPPING FOREST IN 1949-50
BY JOSEPH ROSS
THE period covered by this report is from 1 March 1949 to 28 February
1950; this period is taken as the month of March is frequently chill
and dry, and is unsuitable for the development of Mycetozoa. It is the
most satisfactory time of the year for making a new start in recording, as
old specimens in a great measure may have disappeared. A very wet January
or February may prevent the anticipation of such a time of scarcity being
fulfilled, as it did in 1950, but none the less I think the end of February the
most satisfactory date at which to conclude the period for recording
Mycetozoa.
A very fine summer was the outstanding feature of the calendar year 1949,
and rainfall was very short; at Chingford it was (according to statistics
compiled by Mr. H. Hawkins) 18.82 inches, or about six inches below the
annual average. For the nine months, January to September, the rainfall
amounted to 10.33 inches. The last three weeks of October were a very
wet time, 4.75 inches falling between the 8th and the end of the month.
November and December gave 3.74 inches, and February 1950, with 3.69
inches, was a month of heavy rainfall.
As a consequence of the sparse and uneven rainfall only twenty-one
species were recorded from 1 March to 30 September, but the following five
months raised the total to fifty-four. This is much below the average of
immediately preceding years, and apart from the hot and dry summer, the
low number may be attributed to the less persistent hunting undertaken and
especially to the fewer visits made to Wanstead Park (where many sycamore