THE FUNGUS FORAY.

OCTOBER, 1883.

THIS is the sixteenth year of the fungus forays of the Woolhope Club. The first one of which we can find any account was held in the October of 1868, since which time they have been continued without interruption. For some time after they were instituted the forays of this Club were unique; they were not fashionable, however successful they might have been, and no Society followed the example. When, however, the Woolhope Club came to be celebrated for its fungus forays and their repute floated abroad through the continent of Europe, other societies were inspired with a desire to emulate the Hereford Club, and gradually of late years fungus forays have sprung up in all directions. If imitation be the sincerest of flattery, then the Woolhope Club has been flattered, for it certainly has been imitated, with some amount of success, although not with equal success, because the plan has been so modified that in most instances the "imitation forays" have only been imitations. The whole method has only been followed by the Cryptogamic Society of Scotland and the Botanical Society of France, but the latter only attempted the forays for about two years, and then they ceased altogether.

The characteristic features of the Woolhope forays consist in bringing together, by invitation, all the principal botanists who devote themselves to the study of fungi for a week's holiday, four consecutive days being devoted to excursions in neighbouring woods in search of fungi during the day, and in the evening or early morning the specimens are examined and determined, and papers read on mycological subjects. The objects, therefore, which the Woolhope Club keep in view are to bring together the students of fungi, for social intercourse and exchange of ideas, from all parts of the country, to organise for them excursions on four consecutive days for the purpose of collecting specimens, to provide for them a large room in which to deposit and arrange the fungi for exhibition, to entertain visitors from a distance, to provide a conversazione for each evening where all the excursionists may meet and read or hear papers on kindred topics; and finally, a public dinner: all these objects being most successfully accomplished.

The forays which have of late years been organised by some half dozen societies have been much less ambitious. These forays are limited to a single day, or in most cases to the latter half of one day, and therefore, if that proves to be a wet one, a complete damper is put on the foray for the year; but when the forays extend over three or four days, it is most probable that if some days are wet, there will be one or two dry ones for a change, and the foray in the end has its object achieved. Under these circumstances it is scarcely too much to claim for the Hereford gatherings that, in spite of imitations, the genuine article remains unique.

During the first week in October the sixteenth annual forays of the Woolhope Club have been held, and in results are behind none of their predecessors, thanks to the presiding genius, who has undertaken all the labour and responsibility of arranging the entire series from the first to the last.

Monday, October 1st, was announced on the programme as the day for the arrival of visitors, and the majority followed the programme; those who did not, met the excursionists at Ludlow the next morning. Amongst these were :— Messrs. Broome, Bucknall, Carlyle, Cooke, Canon Du Port, Rev. W. Houghton, Messrs. Howse, Lees, Phillips, Plowright, Soppitt, Wharton, and Rev. J. E. Vize. The excursion for Tuesday was by rail to Ludlow for Moor Park and Woodeve's coppice. Omnibuses in waiting at the station conveyed the party to their destination and awaited their return. The hunting ground was a good one, almost unlimited in extent, and the day as favourable as could be desired. By Two p.in. all the baskets were filled to overflowing, and their owners making the best of their way in one direction-towards Moor Park, where Mrs. Foster had kindly provided a most substantial luncheon, to which the assembled party did ample justice, although a peremptory signal to be "ready in ten minutes," which fell like a thunderbolt in the middle of the repast, startled some of the novices, who were not prepared to experience a practical joke from the "presiding genius" at such a solemn moment. After this interlude followed a stroll through the gardens and park to regain the carriages, and pick up the stray specimens to be met with in the way. At the entrance to the park flourished quite a colony of some twenty or thirty specimens of Boletus satanas, some of them being eight or nine inches in diameter, and over them some discussion was proceeding, when a member of the party was discovered staggering along under the weight of a mass of Polyporus giganteus, nearly 30 inches in one direction and 2 feet in the other. The "presiding genius" bore aloft another smaller, but somewhat neater specimen of the same Polyporus, while others of the party followed bearing large masses of Polyporus dryinus, and other fungi. One after the other, the three waggonets were loaded up, and started on the return journey to Ludlow. The "presiding genius" occupied a box-seat on the front carriage with his own open basket at his feet filled with the treasures collected during the day. As this, which was the foremost vehicle, rushed down a steep hill close to Ludlow, the occupier of the boxseat turned round sharply to see what had become of the other two carriages, when, by some unlucky mishap his foot disturbed the equilibrium of the basket, and the whole contents fell like a shower of toadstools into the road, some under the wheels, others broken by the fall-here a cap and there a stem-" white fungi and red, brown fungi and grey, mingled, mingled, mingled, in an unexpected way." Going rapidly down hill, with the "skid" on, and other carriages following, there was no hope of stopping till at the bottom, and then, at length, some one returned to collect the basket, and gaze upon the ruins of Boletus, Agaricus, Hygrophorus, Cortinarius, Strobylomyces, and Crab Apples, which imparted to the road a most picturesque appearance.

Soon after five o'clock, the entire force collected around the hospitable table of the Messrs. Fortey, enjoying a high tea, and looking back with equanimity upon the crowning disaster of the day. A graphic account might nevertheless be written of the Herculean labours of Mr. Moore, as he struggled under the weight and the responsibilty of the gigantic Polyporus, till it was safely deposited in the Museum. How it travelled to the Ludlow station in a wheelbarrow; what aston

ishment it created at the railway station; the suspicious remarks which rough country youths did not hesitate to employ ; and the yells of sundry small boys whenever it became exposed to their gaze;-all this, and more, might be recorded, had we not other and more prosaic details still to furnish of the results of the various expeditions.

Wednesday, October 3rd, maintained, as it was bound to do, the juicy features of the Woolhope excursions. The morning dawned, if it could be called a dawn, in a universal sombre grey, which matured into a persistent drizzle, with now and then an earnest downpour, and was in all respects a miserable day. Some of the enthusiasts, encased in waterproofs and leggings, made their way to the station to procure tickets for Dinmore, but only four of them succeeded in overcoming their prejudices and entered the train, the rest returned to the Museum, to their pipes, to their drawing materials, or to their correspondence, and the elaboration of excuses for staying in town. Those who went, brought back Hygrophorus discoideus, and Agaricus (entoloma) lividus, and some other interesting species. Then arose a vigorous discussion on the meaning to be attached to the word "lividus," the majority holding to an opinion which had to be abandoned the next day, after finding and consulting a Latin Dictionary. Then it was discovered that lividus" and "luridus" had got mixed up, and the wrong word came to the top. At eight o'clock, after several private dinner-parties, the mycologists were assembled again in solemn conclave, with the President in the chair, in the Woolhope Club Room, at the Free Library, to hear two papers read on the chemical constituents of fungi, and a new way to battle with the Potato disease. Apropos of the latter a waggish visitor's suggestion, that the cause of the Potato disease was the ro-tatory motion of the earth, was not accepted by the commen-tator who had explained Jensen's process.

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Thursday, October 4th, was the Club day, and opened with sunshine, which was fairly maintained throughout the day. The excursion was undertaken in waggonets, and considerable delay was experienced by those who had filled the first two vehicles, and looked down for half-an-hour on their disappointed friends, standing in melancholy expectation on the pavement, waiting for the advent of the third vehicle. This was a source of great delight to the small boys in the streets, and the chambermaids at the windows, who looked up to, or down upon, the party with as much interest as if they had been a regiment of soldiers on parade, or a batch of "Invincibles" starting for the county gaol.

The Club excursion was first made to Haywood Forest, through which the call of the whistle and the familiar "For-ward!" hurried the party to the common beyond, where the carriages were again in waiting. Agaricus Bloxami and Cortinarius Bulliardi were amongst the most cherished of the "finds." After a very pleasant drive the party again dismounted at Bryngwyn, and roamed over the park without securing any fungi, or anything else, except the pleasure of waiting for a truant member of the party who unfortunately missed his way, and was found to be absent when all the rest had comfortably seated themselves in the vehicles. Notwithstanding a considerable amount of vigorous shouting, whistling, and the dispatch of a mounted horseman in pursuit, it was some time before

the delinquent was observed in the distance quietly marching at the rate of two miles an hour, as calculated by pedometer, towards his vacant seat.

Returned to town once more, but half-an-hour behind time, the annual meeting of members was held, the President for the ensuing year elected, the honorary chaplain, the Rev. Canon Du Port duly elected an honorary member, and the members, visitors, and friends adjourned to the "Green Dragon" for the dinner.

There is a great similarity in all public dinners, and one Woolhope dinner is very much like another, so there is nothing very special to record. After some preliminaries, including the presentation of an excellent portrait of the venerable Fries, sent to the Club by his sons, came the reading of two or three papers. One of these, entitled "A Missing Chapter from the Tramp Abroad," gave some humourous illustrations of recent mycological theories. The others were on "Fish Culture as Practised by the Ancients," and some observations by Mr. Edwin Lees, F.L.S., now in his eighty-third year. Subsequently the members and friends adjourned to a reception at the house of Mr. Thomas Cam, where the remaining papers were read, and some drawings exhibited, including some characteristic sketches by Mr. C. B. Plowright, and a large folio of drawings sent for exhibition by Mr. George Massee, of Scarborough. This brought the official meetings of the week to a conclusion, with the exception of the final excursion to Ledbury on the morrow, and a last cup of coffee with the "presiding genius " under the shadow of his own roof.

&c.

The papers communicated during the week were the following :

"A Missing Chapter from the Tramp Abroad: " by Dr. M. C. Cooke, M.A., "Jensen's Discoveries concerning the Potato Disease: " by Mr. Charles B. Plowright. "Fish Culture, as Practised by the Ancients:" by the Rev. Wm. Houghton, M.A., &c. "On some so-called Fish-Eating Birds at the Fisheries Exhibition:" by Mr. E. Cambridge Phillips, F. L.S., &c. "On the Colours of Fungi, as indicated by the Latin Words used by Fries:" by the Rev. Canon Du Port M,A. "Mr. C. G. Stewart's Notes on the Alkaloids and other Substances that have been extracted from Fungi: " by Mr. Henry T. Wharton, M.A., Oxon. "Some Remarks on Polycystina : " by the Rev. J. E. Vize, M.A. "Notes on some Species of Tricholoma not easily distinguished from each other :" by the Rev. Canon Du Port, M. A. "Researches upon the Uredines:" by Mr. Charles B. Plowright. "Notes on the Chroolepus Jolithus and other Algoid Colorific Plants" by Mr. Edwin Lees, F.L.S., F.G.S., &c.

Friday, October 5th.-The final trip by rail to Ledbury was somewhat modified on account of the funeral of Earl Somers, which took place on the same day, in consequence of which the visit to Eastnor Castle was abandoned. After a short ride by omnibus from Ledbury, the visitors alighted at the corner of an unpretending country lane, which promised to lead to nowhere, and commenced scrambling through the wood close by-a process persevered in for an hour or two without any perceptible results, fungi being very scarce, and the species very common, not a single one of any interest having been found at noon, when the party retreated towards Ledbury Park and woods with manifest satisfaction. Here the ground was evidently good, some few species were found which had not

previously been collected during the forays. A quiet walk through the gardens and grounds was duly appreciated as a finale to the week's engagements, the weather having become very unsettled in the afternoon; and, to the surprise and satisfaction of the foragers who, under the care of the gardener passed out at an unexpected corner, they found themselves in the streets of Ledbury not far from the President's residence, where dinner was in course of active preparation on their account.

Even as the season has been somewhat unusual or abnormal in its character, so in the neighbourhood of Hereford there has been an undoubted peculiarity in the fungus flora. The species of Russula, for instance, which are generally exceedingly plentiful both in species and individuals, were comparatively rare. Of the Lactarii also only a few species were observed, and those not very prolific in individuals. Lactarius pubescens was plentiful in one locality only, whilst three or four species so common in previous years were not seen at all. The white-spored Agarics were certainly scarce, except perhaps Agaricus terreus and a few Mycence, whilst the sub-genus Amanita was represented by its noblest example, A. muscarius, in rather more than an average number, and A. vaginatus by a few scattered specimens, the common A. rubescens being almost absent, and a few others represented by a single specimen. In like manner there were none of the larger species of the sub-genus Lepiota, not a single A. rachodes, or A. procerus, but the pretty little A. Bucknalli turned up at Ledbury for the first time out of the Bristol district. Even amongst Armillaric the ubiquitous A. melleus was by no means common.

To make up for these deficiencies it soon became evident that the experiences of the first day were to be repeated in the succeeding excursions, that Cortinarii were the ruling genii of the woods. Never perhaps were the species of Cortinarius in stronger force than this season, and fully compensated by their interest for the absence of other fungi. This was characterised by one of the excursionists as a Cortinarius year, and he was not far wrong in his estimate, as the following enumeration will testify. The first section, called Phlegmacium, which is characterized by a glutinous cap and dry stem, contains some of the largest and most attractive species. C. triumphans, so well figured by Mrs. Hussey, was found in one or two places. On the last excursion of the week C. claricolor several times went into the baskets. C. sebaceus was at home in Haywood Forest, one specimen over eight inches high. C. varius was reported from Ledbury. C. cyanopus on one or two occasions. C. anfractus was brought from Shrewsbury by Mr. Phillips, and during the week was met with in two Herefordshire localities. C. multiformis turned up on the last day, as also did C. glaucopus and one solitary specimen of C. calochrous found a place on the table for exhibition, whilst the golden C. fulgens was bagged in two or three localities.

The next section, Myxacium, with a slimy stem as well as a glutinous pileus, is a much smaller one, and had less numerous representatives. Of course the common C. elatior was collected, together with two or three small specimens of C. mucifluus, and one or two of C. Riederi, and this completes the list. There is a species called C. salor, which was not present, although it was announced one day,