contributed no little towards the development of that study of mycology which of 

 late years has been so pronounced. The Woolhope Forays are known throughout 

 England, and beyond England, in France and on the continent of Europe, to all 

 who are interested in the study of fungi. And they were due entirely to the 

 conception and to the patient work of Dr. Bull who inaugurated them in the year 

 1867. Year by year he attracted to Hereford as the autumn days drew on the 

 most noteworthy authorities in this department of natural history, exercising 

 always himself the most unbounded hospitality, stimulating many to what (if his 

 own attainments had not been so varied) might have seemed his favourite and 

 special line of study, and giving a lasting impetus to research into the wonders of 

 cryptogamic botany. It was but a few days before he succumbed to his last 

 illness that he succeeded in personally carrying through the eighteenth in suc- 

 cession of these interesting and enjoyable gatherings. And the cherished wish of 

 his heart, and one which he had e.Kpressed to many, was that he might be spared 

 to compile, or to assist in compiling, a list and description of the fungi in which 

 the woods of Herefordshire are so prolific. 



This, unhappily, he was not permitted to accomplish, he has left it for some 

 who may be imbued with a like spirit to his own to undertake. But his life was 

 long enough to enable him to see the completion of " Tlie Herefordshire Pomona." 

 Had this work alone remained as the evidence of what he was capable of, of his 

 much learning, of his accurate observation, of his indomitable energy in carrying 

 out his purposes, it is not too much to say that it would have made his name 

 famous amongst us. For it deservedly takes rank as a standard, and exhaustive, 

 work on the subject of which it treats. Impressed by the economic value of the 

 apple and the pear, for the culture of which Herefordshire is both distinguished 

 and naturally adapted, he threw his heart, as in other things, into the idea of 

 improving that culture, and increasing that value, by the diffusion of the best 

 procurable information as to the various kinds of these fruits, and the methods of 

 their growth. And the result was the well-known and important book referred to. 



But it is time to bring this notice to a close. Enough has been said if we 

 have helped to place on record not only the sketch of a singularly benevolent and 

 useful life, but also the regretful sense with which we Woolhopeans especially 

 deplore the departure from amongst us of one so loyal to the interests of our Club, 

 so indefatigable in the promotion of its aims, so genial and so kindly-hearted, so 

 honoured and so valued by us all, as was he whose speaking likeness forms the 

 frontispiece of the present volume. 



quis de8idkri0 sit pudok, aut modus, 

 Tam cari capitis? . * 



V.9D 



