Journal of Proceedings. li 



which had proved so inclement on that and several other former Field 

 Meetings. On looking along the tables, the officers of the Club could 

 not but feel proud to note the large and eminent cryptogamic forces 

 they had succeeded in bringing together. He was sure all were deeply 

 indebted to their conductors, Dr. M. C. Cooke, Mr. Worthington Smith, 

 and Mr. James English, for their valuable assistance, and as some 

 members might be obliged to leave before the termination of the dis- 

 cussion, he proposed to reverse the usual order of things, and at once 

 call upon the meeting to pass a cordial vote of thanks to the botanists 

 named. In doing so he could not but refer to the many well-known 

 naturalists who attended the meeting as visitors, and he was sure all 

 were proud and pleased to welcome their illustrious confrere, Professor 

 Maxime Cornu, of Paris, among them that afternoon. The vote of 

 thanks was given with much cordiality and enthusiasm. 



Dr. Cooke then delivered one of his characteristically humorous and 

 learned extemporaneous lectures, taking as his subject the discrimina- 

 tion of Fungi generally, and edible and poisonous species in particular. 

 He alluded to the extreme richness of the Epping Woods in this class 

 of plants, and congratulated the Society on having inaugurated so suc- 

 cessfully a much-wanted mycological meeting. Since the collapse of 

 the Fungus Meetings of the Royal Horticultural Society, lovers of these 

 lowly plants had had no opportunity of meeting together for pleasant 

 conversation and comparison of notes, and he was sure, should the 

 meetings become an annual institution, they would be much appre- 

 ciated by metropolitan botanists. 



The Doctor gave an admirable resume of the characteristics of the 

 principal families of the larger or pileate Fungi, illustrating the points 

 insisted on by means of fresh specimens extracted from the hidden 

 recesses of his wonderful portmanteau. He described the mode of 

 examining specimens with a view to classifying and naming them — 

 whether with gills, pores, or teeth, on the underside of the pileus ; the 

 colour and nature of the spores, the structure of the stem, whether 

 solid, hollow, or fibrous, the attachment of the gills to the stem, 

 &c., &c. ; all these points were touched upon, and demonstrated prac- 

 tically with the aid of a table knife, and the inexhaustible bag. He also 

 pointed out what species to select, and what to avoid from a gastro- 

 nomic point of view, particularly praising the " Orange Chantarelle," 

 alluded to above ; and one species deliciosus of the genus Lactariiis, 

 known by exuding a milky fluid when broken. Our giant friend 

 Boletus edulis came in for a large share of commendation, and the 

 visitors were told to study its characters well so as to know it again, 

 particularly remarking the delicate pinkish reticulation of the stem 

 which serves to distinguish the right species from its congeners, many 

 of which are the reverse of wholesome. One of these Boletus Itiridus 

 had been found plentifully during the afternoon's "hunt. It is poison- 



