198 THE ESSEX NATURALIST
inches were recorded in the first seven months, and 14.52 inches in the other
live months; moreover, in the earlier period, 2.86 inches tell in March and
was partly attributable to a heavy snowfall late in the month. The summer
was one of "very few really warm days", and the cold weather began early
and continued long. Mr. Hawkins reports that September was unusually
cold generally, with winds mainly from a northerly direction, and rainfall
(3'26 inches) was much in excess. November, with 3.77 inches of rain,
was the coldest November since 1925. Then in January, 1953, the daytime
temperature reached 56°F. on the 29th (this is the highest in late January
at Kew since records started in 1870), but Mr. Hawkins remarks: "The
mild spell, one of the very few in the south this winter, was short-lived".
In such weather, Mycetozoa have little opportunity to develop successfully.
For some years, to achieve various objects, undergrowth has been cut out
in parts of the Forest, particularly on the edges of the woodland. The
effect of this in permitting northerly and easterly winds to blow through
the woods was very noticeable in the past autumn and winter, and some
areas, being drier than they had been in preceding years, were less happy
hunting grounds for Mycetozoa. It is satisfactory that a total of 59 species
was recorded, but in some instances very few developments of not uncommon
species were found-, the record of Colloderma oculatum (Lippert) G. Lister
depended on a single sporangium found in November on a plant of the
liverwort, Lophocolea heterophylla (Schrader) Dumortier.
Hunting in the four months—March to June, both inclusive—yielded
only 11 species, but by the end of August the number had reached 23, and
by 31st October had risen to 46. The last four months added only 13 species,
the weather being unfavourable. Frost and snow early in December were
survived by 22 species in a more or less fragmentary condition. Searching
at times was not a pleasurable occupation, but even in December and
January it gave heartening results.
A gratifying occurrence was the appearance of Badhamia populina Lister
at the Warren, Loughton, in each month from June to November. The
early developments were on fallen or felled logs of grey and black poplar,
and because of the hard state of the outer bark, it was difficult to obtain
presentable specimens. Later, the species was found on a bough raised
five to six feet from the ground, and the thin skin of bark on this bough
was easily prised off.
B. populina is a species of much interest locally. In her Presidential
Address to the Club in March, 1917 (Essex Naturalist 18, p. 223), Miss (I.
Lister stated: "This species was first found on a wood-pile at Walthamstow
by Miss Jessie Lloyd in June, 1899. In November, 1902, it appeared in
showy white masses that could be seen yards away on the underside of
fallen poplars in the Avenues, Leytonstone. Since then we have found it
most years, usually in autumn and winter, in Wanstead Park and in the
surrounding district where poplars have fallen. Several developments may
succeed each other for a few weeks, but there appears to be only one main
crop a year. It is an abundant species in Colorado, where it appears on
the bark of poplar and Acer Negundo (box elder)". In the Essex Naturalist
of 1925 (21, p. 133), Miss Lister wrote: "This uncommon species . . .
appeared in considerable abundance in November, 1924, on poplar logs in
the grounds of the Metropolitan Water Board at Walthamstow. The logs
were piled into stacks six to eight feet high, and on the dark bark many
patches of the fragile, greyish-white sporangia developed, forming con-
spicuous cushions varying from one to three inches across . . . From 1902
to 1913 it frequently appeared in late autumn and winter ... in the Avenues
and in Wanstead Park. It has also been obtained in Yorkshire, in France,
Moldavia, and repeatedly in the State of Colorado . . . The Yorkshire
specimen is remarkable for having pale rose-coloured sporangia. On the