ERIC SAUNDERS, B.E.M., 1912-1966 341
It was in January 1958 that he joined the Essex Field Club
chiefly in order to expand his knowledge of the bryophytes. Here
he found kindred spirits, interested in the same subjects as
himself and his progress was meteoric. In 1931 a list of bryo-
phytes found in Essex had been published but without localities,
Whilst subsequent additions had been made no real work had
been done on this group in the County and so Eric decided to
concentrate on this. He joined the British Bryological Society in
1958 and the following year there appeared in its Transactions his
first addition to the Essex flora: —
Fissidens minutulus Sull. sec Braithw; Chalk Pit, Grays (18).
Since then he had added about sixty species to the Essex flora as
new county records, voucher specimens being in the B.B.S.
Herbarium. Among his outstanding finds were Octodiceras
fontanum on a wooden post by the River Stort near Roydon,
1961, Bryum knowltonii at Fingringhoe Wick Nature Reserve,
1963, and Pallavicinia lyelii with Scapania irrigua on a marshy
track at Jack's Hill, Epping Forest, 1964. His exceptional eye-
sight enabled him to find Ephemerum recurvifolium in a stubble
field near Audley End in 1960 and Phascum floerkeanum in a
similar habitat near Littlebury in 1960. These are minute mosses.
He attended the Wells Meeting of the B.B.S. in 1959 and on a
visit to Brean Down, Somerset (V.C. 6) picked up a Weissia,
another minute moss, which was thought to be Weissia sterilis.
On being sent to Dr. Warburg, he showed it to be Weissa levieri
(Limpr.) Kindb., a species new to the British Isles. It was
described in the B.B.S. Transactions, Vol. 3, 1960. So within a
year or two of taking up the study of bryophytes Eric Saunders'
keen eyesight, good memory, tenacious investigation and
enthusiasm turned him into a brilliant field worker in a group of
plants with no common names and in which the individual species
frequently appear vastly different when wet or dry.
His interests were not restricted to bryophytes for he acquired
a wide knowledge of the flowering plants, made a special study of
and amassed an extensive herbarium collection of charophytes of
which he had wide experience and in addition he collected and
had a considerable interest in the marine algae. As an all-round
naturalist he had no equal.
In 1962 he undertook the duties of General Secretary to the
Club, a post which he held with distinction until a few weeks
before his death.
Since the early days of World War II he had lived with his
mother in Chingford. By the early 1960's his mother's advancing
years and declining health thrust additional responsibilities upon
Eric who found himself coping with housekeeping and other
domestic duties in addition to carrying out his business commit-
ments and indulging in his hobby. The Field Club became to
him a welcome relaxation from his responsibilities and it was
amongst the members he met the lady who on Easter Monday
1966 became his wife. He was then able to achieve a life-long