238 THE FLORA OF HALIFAX. 



Between 1889 and the present year (1903), Mr. Need ham has 

 collected an immense amount of material about Hebden 

 Bridge. In 1894 ^ lr - H. T. Soppitt commenced to take an 

 active part in local investigations, and continued until within 

 a few weeks of his death, in 1899. He brought to light 

 several most interesting micro-species (Hx. Nat., Vol. IV., 

 pp. 31-36). The Hebden Bridge district has yielded the 

 greatest weight of material ; Luddenden Dean, North Dean 

 Wood, and Elland Park Wood coming next. Shibden and 

 Wheatley, where Bolton found many of the specimens he 

 figured, have been rather neglected in favour of what were 

 considered more prolific places. At present they are lacking 

 in moist, shaded woodlands ; and small, open, dry plantations 

 are not of much use from a mycological standpoint, though 

 such places do occasionally produce rare things. Special 

 efforts have been made to find micro-species, and with marked 

 success. 



The total number of fungi met with in the parish up to the 

 present is 1105. Since 1889, thirteen species new to science 

 have been discovered, and twenty-three new to Britain. In 

 the meantime, 350 have been figured in natural colours. 

 These drawings are accompanied by copious notes, in some 

 cases amounting to a re-description of the species, with many 

 hitherto neglected micr scopic characters added. Mr. Massee, 

 of the Royal Herbariuir, Kew, has been afforded opportunities 

 of revising and completing the diagnosis of numerous insuffici- 

 ently described species from material sent him from this 

 district. A few of Bolton's species, not met with anywhere 

 between his time and the present, have been re-discovered, 

 notably Coprimes oblectus, Tab. 142 (' Nat.,' Dec. 1902). 

 Pholiota dura (Bolton) Tab. 67, f. I., has also been confirmed. 

 Others of his have not since been found, but it is yet possible 

 they may be. The parish is not by any means exhausted, either 

 for the confirmation of old records, or the finding of new 

 species ; even while this was being written, Mr. U. Bairstow 

 has brought me a most handsome toadstool, Lentinus squamosus, 

 new to Britain, found growing on some wood- work in his 

 garden in Halifax. 



For various reasons students of fungi are comparatively 

 few, but, during the last two or three decades, there has been 

 an awakening to the fact that from a biological point of view, 

 "the study of fungi cannot be ignored by anyone desirous of 



