NOTES — ORIGINAL AND SELECTED. 245 



AGARICINI. 

 Agaricus (Mycena)rosellus, Fries., Cooke, " Illus." t. 131 a. 

 Agaricus (Psath/rella) subatratus, Batsch., Cooke, "Illus." 



Bolbitius fragilis, Fries., Cooke, " Illus." t. 720 a. 

 Cortinarius (Hydrocybe) castaneus, Bull., Cooke, 

 "Illus."' t. S42. 



Hygrophorus (Camarophyllus) niveus, Fries., Cooke, 



" Illus." t. 900 A. 



Lactarius (Piperites) pubescens, Fries., Cooke, "Illus." 

 t. 974. 



POLYPOREI. 



Meruleus pallens. Berk. 



It may be useful to add that coloured figures of nearly all the 

 Epping Forest Hymenomycetal Fungi, together with a copy of the 

 new edition of Dr. Cooke's " Handbook," will be placed in the 

 l''orest Museum at Chingford. 



NOTES— ORIGINAL AND SELECTED. 



Albino Weasel near Colchester. — I. ate in December, 1892, I had brought 

 to me for preservation, a pure white specimen of the Common Weasel (^Mnstela 

 vitlgari}.') which had been shot near Colchester about the 20th of that month. It 

 was a genuine albino, as the eyes were pink and the flesh was unusually light in 

 colour. Although w'hite, or partly white, specimens of the Stoat {Mustela erminea) 

 — not, however, true albinos — are common in cold winters, w-hite specimens of the 

 weasel are very rare. — JOHN Pettitt, 108, North Station Road, Colchester. 



Puffin at Billericay. — According to the " Essex. County Chronicle," a fine 

 specimen of the Puffin (^Fratercula arcticd)^ was caught alive at the end of the 

 year, by a lad in Water-lane Meadows, near the Congregational Church, it 

 measures 13 inches in length. It was purchased by j\lr. Ramse}^, of Billerica}-. 

 The Puffin is b)^ no means common on the Essex coast from autumn to spring, 

 and its occurrence inland is, therefore, worth recording. 



Rooks. — Dwellers in my corner of the Forest are noting with great interest 

 that a colony of rooks has, apparently, decided to settle in the fine old elm trees 

 in Organ Lane, Chingford. This is flattering to the inhabitants of the houses 

 which abut on the lane, and we must hope that the confidence shown by the birds 

 will be merited. An excuse has often been given by speculative builders in the 

 forest districts that elm trees are generally unsound, and should, therefore, as a 

 matter of safety, be cut down. Is there not an old country legend that rooks will 

 not select unsound trees to build in ? I would much prefer the honest judgment 

 of the birds to any sayings of a "jerry builder." Since writing the above I have 

 received from Mr. T. \ . Holmes the following note : " There was a small rookery 

 in two or three tall elms in Greenwich Park, opposite my house, in 1861 and 



