THE PUNGUSFLORA. 



CHARLES CROSSLAND, F.L.S. 



INTRODUCTION. 



THE basis of this branch of the Flora, as of all the others, 

 lies in Bolton's Catalogue, which enumerates 55 species, 

 Nos. 434-489. In the case of the Ferns and Fungi, the Cata- 

 logue was supplemented by illustrated works ; the one on 

 Fungi being limited in scope to this locality. This (vide the 

 General Introduction, p. lii.) includes 231 species, most of 

 which were either new species, or new British records. 

 Hymenomycetes in the shape of Agarics, Polypores, Clavarias, 

 etc., make up 138, the rest were miscellaneous. In addition, 

 there are a number of coloured drawings of fungi (vide I.e. 

 p. liv.) in the British Museum. These the writer has had the 

 pleasure of examining. Taken as a whole, Bolton's drawings 

 are representative of many and various orders, and are exten- 

 sively quoted in the systematic mycological works of Berkeley, 

 Fries, Cooke, Stevenson, Rabenhorst, Massee, and others. 

 Close upon 220 of the 230 or 240 species figured, may safely 

 be included in the present list. We are unable to identify 

 definitely a few of the smaller ones ; nor can this be wondered 

 at when, even at the present day, it requires in some instances, 

 a magnification of 300 to 400 diameters to distinguish, by aid 

 of the spores, one species from another. 



After Bolton's death no local botanist appears to have 

 studied this branch, until the present writer commenced in 

 1888, under the wing of the Yorkshire Naturalists' Union. 

 Dr. F. H. Parsons, of Goole, and Mr. W. West recorded a 

 few in " The Naturalist," collected during Y.N.U. excursions 

 into this district. The Huddersfield Naturalists' Society 

 record in their Circular (1883) several found at Grimscar } 

 Fixby, Rastrick, etc. All these, and many of Bolton's, are 

 incorporated in Lees' Flora of West Yorkshire. 



