Journal of Proceedings. lxiii
packet of mosses among which the specimen was detected by Mr. Mitten
bore no label, and the only clue to the locality where it was gathered lay
in the fact that the Zygodon forsteri was wrapped in a billhead with a
Hastings address upon it.
" Until a few years ago, therefore, when Miss I. Gifford found the plant
at Minehead, no exact locality was known in Britain for this species. In
the locality pointed out to me by that lady the moss grew on the top
of an old stump behind a gate in a field, and bore some resemblance
to a Pottia, for which it was at first mistaken by Miss Gifford, being sub-
sequently recognised by Mr. H. Boswell, of Oxford, to whom she sent it.
"I found the moss in Epping Forest on the root of an old tree where
water collects in little depressions among the roots. It seems to prefer
damp timber; in size and habit of growth it resembles Tortula muralis,
for which it might easily be mistaken if the short seta and furrowed cap-
sule were not noticed. Neither at Minehead nor in Epping Forest did I
see more than a single patch, so that it does not appear to be a gregarious
species like Z. viridissimus and Z. conoideus. The leaves in the moist
state are remarkable for their rigid, dark green, succulent appearance. On
the Continent also this plant appears to be a rare southern species. It
has been found growing on the poplar, cork, oak, holly, and elm. I did
not notice on what tree it occurred in Epping Forest, but believed to have
been beech."
With one exception the phanerogamous plants observed do not call for
special notice, that exception being, curiously enough, also a re-discovery.
Near the railway station at Woodford Mr. W. W. Beeves met with a plant
of Senecio viscosus, L., a very local and generally a rare species. It was
recorded in 1771 for Woodford in Warner's 'Plantae Woodfordienses' as
the " Cotton Groundsel or Strong-scented Groundsel, in sandy ground;
not uncommon." Edward Forster in his paper, " Corrections of erroneous
habitats given to British Plants" ('Phytologist' ii. 611), says this was
" a blunder of Warner's ; not to be found at or near Woodford." Gibson,
in his 'Flora of Essex,' only gives one station for it, " Syme's Farm,
near Epping," and adds " a state of S. sylvaticus was probably the plant
meant by Warner and others." Mr. Reeves's specimen was without
any doubt correctly named, having been submitted to the Kew authorities.
It was particularly interesting to find the plant, after having heen lost
and doubted for over a century, still growing near the spot where possibly
it was first gathered by Warner.
Many of our microscopists were actively engaged in " pond-hunting "
during the day, but in the absence of any detailed reports it may be
interesting to append a list of Infusoria met with by Mr. Saville Kent at
the previous " Foray " (October 1st, 1881), which unfortunately escaped
record at the time. The species were found in association with Myrio-
phyllum (Water-Milfoil) in ponds on the Epping New Road:—
Flagellata.—Codosiga botrytis, Ehr., Salpingaeca amphoridium, J.-Clk.,
Dendromonas Virgaria, Weisse, Anthrophysa vegetans, Mull.
Cilio-Flagellata.—Peridinium tabulatum, Ehr.
Ciliata.—Vorticella tubulifera, Ehr., V. campanula, Ehr., Vaginicola
crystallina, Ehr., Halteria grandinella, Mull., Stentor polymorphus, Mull.,
Cothurnia imberbis, Ehr., Ophrydium sessile, S.E., rare; this species was