THE FUNGI OF EPPING FOREST.
By A. A. PEARSON, F.L.S.
THE present list of the Fungi of Epping Forest has been
compiled from the following sources :—
A catalogue of species arranged by M. C. Cooke, and printed
in the Essex Naturalist, September, 1889, with some additional
records from his unpublished lists.
Species recorded in subsequent numbers of the Essex
Naturalist, including Mr. J. Ramsbottom's excellent paper in
Vol. XXIV on the History of Mycology in Essex.
Records made by the British Mycological Society.
A few species taken from the sketch books of Mr. Arthur
Lister and from various other sources.
Only the Hymenomycetes and Gasteromycetes have been
included. A list of other groups is hardly practicable at present.
Little work has been done on the microfungi of the Forest ;
these, however, would not interest the visitors to the Fungus
Forays for whom this list is chiefly designed. There would be
no difficulty in issuing a preliminary list of Discomycetes, a
few of which are exhibited every year, but students are handi-
capped by the absence of a descriptive work on lines approved
by modern specialists of the group.
The general classification of the agarics used in this list is
based on the colour of the spores in mass as used by Elias Fries,
with some modification in the grouping of species. This is the
most convenient classification for the display of specimens at
our forays, but is gradually being superseded in the more modern
fungus-floras, where attempts are made to group the Hymeno-
mycetes on more "natural" lines. These recent methods of
grouping families, genera and species are largely based on a
study of microscopic structure. New genera are springing up
"like mushrooms in the night." At the present juncture there
is little stability in the new classifications ; they are most
confusing—but cannot be ignored. Some of the more stabilised
genera have been used as sections for groups of species. These
are placed in brackets and are not an integral part of the list ;
otherwise they would affect the citation of authors. They are
given in order to provide some indication of the lines many
continental workers are taking, so that when we meet with