81 



WOOLHOPE CLUB FORAY. 



The annual Foray of the Woolhope Club was for nearly a week, 

 from October 11th to the 16th, the excitement of Hereford. As 

 iisual a number of mycologists met together from far distant 

 parts of the country, and enjoyed the hospitality of their Hereford 

 friends. Of course Dr. Bull was the centre of all energy, and he 

 had left nothing undone to make this Woolhope meeting as suc- 

 cessful as any of its predecessors. What a comparison do these 

 Perth and Hereford meetings afford to the declining and flickering 

 London meeting, which latter seems to be making a last " struggle 

 for existence," 



Amongst the most interesting '' finds " at the excursions of the 

 week were Agaricus ( Armillaria) bulbiger, a most distinct species 

 in a small subgenus, now found in Britain for the first time. 

 Rarities were represented by Stvobilowyces strobUiaeeus, Sisto- 

 trema confluens, Clavaria amcihi/stina, Tremella ejngcea, Russula 

 aurota, Agaricus enchrous, Clavaria botri/tis, and Hydnum clia- 

 phanum, the latter new to Britain, as well as Agaricus macro- 

 rJiizns. 



The more minute forms of Fungoid life do not usually absorb 

 much attention at these Forays and shows, but afterwards we 

 gradually learn of new or rare additions having been made by 

 stealth during the day. On this occasion Mr. W. Phillips found a 

 little red Peziza identical with the Peziza humosa, of Dr. Rehm, 

 but not of Fries. Almost simultaneously the Rev. M. J. Berkeley 

 found this species in Kent, and the name proposed for it is Peziza 

 constcUatio, B. & Br. Although found some time since, yet Mr. 

 Griffith Morris exhibited for the first time a black mould clearly 

 congeneric with Schweinitz's Clasterisporium caricimnn. It re- 

 sembles the spores of an Helminihosporium borne on creeping 

 threads. Amongst other rarities of a minute kind were Ascobolvs 

 viriclis, Curr, ; the interesting, but perhaps not rare, Peziza tre- 

 chis}wra ; the larger Peziza svccosa, B. & Br.; and a few such 

 things as Toirnbia viilitaris, Hypocrea alutacea, Peziza ceesia, a 

 small spored variety of Peziza Crouani, &c. 



Altogether the Woolhope meeting was as complete a success 

 as any of its predecessors. There was an equal amount of social 

 enjoyment, a most excellent room for the display of the spoils 

 (were it not unfortunately as dark as a cellar), private dinners and 

 a public dinner, and last, but not least, considerable additions to 

 our knowledge of rare species, with some very interesting ac- 

 quisitions to the British Flora. Pleasure, combined with science 

 in a manner so harmonious and satisfactory, characterises the 

 Woolhope Forays, and render them things worthy of remem- 

 brance for one half the year, and of pleasurable anticijiation for 

 the rest. 



