PUBLISHED PAPERS BY JOSEPH ROSS
159
Because he resided for such a long period in Chingford he
acquired an immense knowledge of Epping Forest, not only from
the natural history point of view. In Chingford he became a
well-known figure carrying either a vasculum or binoculars, and
because of conditions underfoot, usually wearing gum-boots. Not
only did he know the best places in which to search for the
mycetozoa, in which he took a great delight, but he knew where
the deer were to be found, where various species of birds were
nesting, where various species of mosses and liverworts were to be
seen and also the localities for all the flowering plants. A walk
through part of the Forest in his company was a sheer delight
for any student of natural history who was truly interested in the
subject and he was a natural teacher pointing out the characters
that mattered to ensure correct identification. The breadth of
his knowledge may be judged by the wide scope of his published
papers, a list of which is appended.
He retired from active business life because of economic con-
ditions in the early 1930s and this enabled him to devote his full
time to his studies. Soon after he retired he took over the Curator-
ship of the Club's Museum in Queen Elizabeth's Hunting Lodge
and continued to care for this throughout the 1939 war. When
he relinquished this post in 1948 he continued to provide the
wild-flower exhibit for a further ten years when repeated attacks
of pneumonia caused him to give up any active participation in
the collection of specimens for this purpose, although he still
visited the museum and assisted with advice and comments. He
was probably best known in the Club for his work on the myce-
tozoa of which he had a deep knowledge. As a result of his
searches in the Forest the list of known species from the area was
increased from just under 80 to 109. In addition he was jointly
responsible for the discovery of a species new to science viz.,
Didymium laxifila G. Lister and J. Ross.
Through his generosity in 1962 his entire collection of gall
flies and mycetozoa were presented to the museum in which he
had taken such a keen interest, where they will form a fitting
memorial to his work in the cause of natural science, and his
knowledge and love of the forest.
A List of Published Papers by Joseph Ross
1918 Ptilidium pulcherrimum (Web.) Hampe in Epping Forest. Essex
Nat, 18: 187-189.
1918 Mycetozoa in the Chingford District of Epping Forest in August
and September 1915 and 1916. Essex Nat, 18: 192-193.
1920 Attachment of the Greater Spotted Woodpecker to its nesting
site. Essex Nat, 19: 144.
1925 Hepatics found in Epping Forest. London Nat (1924): 14.
1926 The Greater Spotted Woodpecker. London Nat (1925): 16-20.
1929 An albinistic chaffinch at Chingford. Essex Nat., 22: 215.
1931 The Gall of Andricus seminationis Giraud. Lon. Nat. (1930): 137-133.