294 "^^^ ESSEX FTRI.D CLUB. 



Mr. 'Massee made a verbal report on the more interestin^j species of 

 Fungi observed during the day ; this is embodied in the hst by him, printed 

 in the present part of the Essex Naturalist. 



Dr. M. C. Cooke made one of his characteristic speeches, referring to the 

 early days of Fungus hunting and study, and to his own work during the last 

 50 years. He gave many interesting reminiscences of the origin of Crypto- 

 gamic research in Great Britain, and contrasted the many aids to the 

 beginner now available with the utter dearth of books and experts in the study 

 in his young days 



Mr. Robert Paulson read his Preliminary Report on the cause of the 

 death of Birch trees in the forest and in many other places. This Report is 

 printed in the present part of our Journal (pp. 273-84). The author illustrated 

 his remarks by the exhibition of numerous photographs and specimens of the 

 infected branches of birch most carefully prepared and sectioned. 



A discussion was carried on by the President, Mr. Massee, Mr. Elliott, 

 and the author, and Mr. Paulson was cordially thanked for his com- 

 munication. 



Mr. F. P. Smith made some observations on the mode of occurrence of 

 Spiders, and the methods to be employed in their collection and preservation. 



Mr. F. O. Pickard-Cambridge also spoke on the same subject. He 

 reported that a considerable number of species of spiders had been captured 

 in the woods that day, many being new to the Forest list. He exhibited 

 some very beautiful drawings of British Spiders made by himself, and gave 

 some useful hints on the study. He hoped that more attention would now be 

 paid to the group by members and friends of the Club, now that a beginning 

 had been made in collecting the spiders of the Forest. 



Mr. Pickard-Cambridge also alluded to the forthcoming production of 

 the volumes of the Victorian History of the Counties uf England. He himself 

 had undertaken the enumeration and description of the Arachnida of Essex, 

 and he asked for help in making the records more complete. 



Mr. F. P. Smith and Mr. Pickard-Cambridge subsequently furnished 

 the Editor with lists of the species observed. These have been combined by 

 Mr. Cambridge in the Report printed in the present part of the Essex 

 Naturalist. 



Mr. W. Mark Webb, F.L.S., exhibited and presented to the Museum a 

 series of Holocene Mollusca from Shalford, Essex. The collection is referred 

 to in the paper on the "Post-Pliocene Non-Marine Mollu-sca of Essex " by 

 Messrs. Kennard and Woodward in the Xth Volume of the E.ssex 

 Naturalist, page 95. Mr. Webb's donation was rendered the more accept- 

 able by the careful way in which the specimens had been mounted in glass- 

 top boxes. 



Prof. Silvanus Thompson, F.R.S , made some observations on the 

 diffraction spectra exhibited by the dissepiment of the seed pods of the well- 

 known garden plant called "Honesty" (Lunaria) and similar phenomena 

 exhibited by the surfaces of some natural minerals, &c 



