6
THE MYCETOZOA;
of which Hooker was editor. Berkeley consented, and in
three years produced a book which at once took its place as
the standard work on British fungi, a position it held for 35
years. In later years, he wrote books to popularize the study
of fungi, and a number of papers on the specimens sent him
by many collectors at home and abroad ; but this work on
British fungi was the most important volume Berkeley published.
He writes that he could never have undertaken the task without
the advantage of the stores Sir William Hooker had accumulated
or of the help he received from his friends and correspondents.
In his classification, and indeed in his definitions of genera and
species, Berkeley followed the lines laid down by his corres-
pondent, the eminent Swedish botanist, Elias Fries, whose
classic work, written in Latin, on all the fungi then known, had
appeared a few years previously. The Mycetozoa, still classed
with Puffballs, are placed in a subclass to themselves called
" the Myxogastres," and are defined as " at first very soft and
mucilaginous." Sixty-six British species are described, grouped
under 15 genera. Berkeley quotes valuable references to the
works of earlier authors and gives careful notes on the characters
of the specimens he had seen. In studying his book, one is im-
pressed by the able manner in which he deals with what must
have seemed at first an overwhelming mass of facts and material.
His collections are now in the Kew Herbarium, where, accom-
panying the specimens, one may read notes written in his
small neat handwriting, to many of which careful pencil drawings
are added. Berkeley's private life was uneventful. After
leaving Margate, he became Perpetual Curate of Apethorpe,
near Kingscliffe, Northamptonshire, where he lived for 35 years.
He then received the living of Sibbertoft, near Market Har-
borough, and remained there till his death, in 1889, at the age
of 86. His means were moderate, his family large, and his
health often poor, but his industry never flagged, and help and
advice were readily given to the many correspondents who
applied to him.
Of the friends who assisted Berkeley in his scientific work,
Christopher Broome should receive mention. A number of papers
un fungi appear under their joint names. Broome's collections
of Mycetozoa are now in the British Museum. In many cases
the specimens are duplicates of those in Berkeley's herbarium