lxxvi Journal of Proceedings.
a luxurious king to the inventor of a new pleasure. It is a pity that
king is dead,—he lived so long ago, that he might just as well have lived
a little longer,-for if he were living now we fungus-hunters might rejoice
in a portion of his imperial wealth, and enhance our pleasure by teaching
him a scientific appreciation of ' Fungi as food.' "
Want of time unfortunately prevented the paper standing in Professor
Boulger's name (" On Rhizocarpeae") from being read, albeit he had
prepared a large number of diagrams and fresh and dried specimens to
illustrate it. A few questions were asked on the several papers, and
replied to by the writers, but there was no time for an extended discus-
sion of any. Cordial votes of thanks were passed to the authors, and to
those who had acted as Directors, and a most successful and interesting
meeting was brought to a close by an inspection of the Fungi gathered
during the day under the guidance of the botanists present.
[On Saturday, October 21st, the Hackney Microscopical Society held a
meeting in the Chingford portion of Epping Forest for the examination
and determination of Fungi, under the guidance of Dr. Cooke, Mr.
Worthington Smith, and Mr. English. As this portion of the Forest has
not yet been explored by the Club it may be interesting to quote a few
remarks on the species observed kindly furnished by Mr. Smith :—
" The heavy downpour of rain, the driving wind, the scudding leaves,
and the deep tenacious mud made botanising rather difficult. Two
interesting species of the subgenus Flammula were speedily met with in
Agaricus flavidus and spumosus. Some fine specimens of Agaricus
dryinus were gathered from the trees. Another tree produced several
specimens of the beautiful, and by no means common, Agaricus adiposus,
with a bright sulphury top covered with thick adipous gluten. The
grassy places were thickly dotted with different species of Hygrophorus
and the yellow Clavaria inaequalis. Many specimens of Coprinus were
met with, and Agaricus stercoriarius and A. appendiculatus. The Beech
trees produced the beautiful A. mucidus and Polyporus cuticularis, and
the old Oaks exhibited the vegetable beefsteak, Fistulina hepatica. The
vegetable oyster, Agaricus ostreatus, was met with in several places.
Amongst interesting species growing on the ground was Polyporus
rufescens and many examples of the uncommon fungus named Agaricus
worthingtonii by Professor Fries. An example or two of the edible
A. procerus were found, with a large number of common species."]
Saturday, September 30th, 1882.—Ordinary Meeting.
The thirty-first Ordinary Meeting of the Club (being the first meeting
of the Winter Session) was held at the Head-quarters at seven o'clock,
the President in the chair.
Contributions to the Library were announced from Miss Saul (20 vols.),
Professor Boulger, Mr. J. E. Harting, Mr. Andrew Johnston, Mr.
Meldola, and Mr. Fisher Unwin. Miss Marian Ridley presented to the
Museum an almost complete collection of British Ferns, neatly mounted,