EPPING FOREST.
ITS FUNGI.
" You demi-puppets, that
By midnight do the green-sour ringlets make
Whereof the ewe not bites ; and you, whose pastime
Is to make midnight mushrooms."—The Tempest.
I Do not know that it is anything to be proud
of, but, as a matter of fact, Epping Forest is blessed
with an abundance of toadstools beyond any other
district within easy reach of London. The sur-
face of the ground and the stems of partially
decayed trees are studded in the autumn months
with a great variety of forms of fungi, some re-
markable for the brilliance of their colours, others
noteworthy for their curious forms. In size they
vary from huge gnarled specimens a foot in
diameter to the minutest thread - like mildew.
Some are fashioned like parasols, others are con-
cave and resemble vases or goblets. Some are
circular, some columnar, and others have no de-
fined shape at all. The colours comprise black,
pearly white, purple, orange, yellow, and the most
brilliant scarlet. Some are smooth and satiny in
appearance, others studded with scales and bosses
of darker colour. Their characteristics change to
an extraordinary extent with the different stages of