44 



Walk," " Close to the Pump," " Near the Gate," &c. No proper names were 

 known for these apples, so they took temporary names from their position in the 

 orchard. Saturday was devoted to planting various Herefordshire apples and 

 pears, by Miss Ellis, of Hereford, and one of the artists employed on the Gardener's 

 Chronicle. Sunday was spent in a quiet and proper manner, as became the day, 

 the only event of importance being a telegram from M. J. de Seynes, "Professeur 

 agri^^e h,la Faculte de Medecin de Paris," to say he had just arrived in London, 

 \vith his son, and would be at Hereford on the following day, at 12 ; to accomplish 

 this he had to leave London at 6 a.m. on Monday. So much for fungological 

 enthusiasm ! 



THE FUNGUS FORAY. 



At last, Monday, the 1st of October, and the first day of the " foray," 

 arrived, and with it an influx of fungus men and women and their paraphernalia. 

 M. de Seynes, his son, and Mrs. Chapman, of London, arrived punctually at 12 

 — Mr. Broome, of Batheaston, being in the same train. Later in the day M. 

 Maxime Cornu, of Paris, with Mr. Howse, of Sydenham Hill, were met at the 

 station by Dr. Bull and the Historian of the Woolhope Club. Still later in the 

 evening came Mr. Penny, of London, Mr. and Miss Du Port, of Norfolk, Mr 

 and Mrs. Bicknell, of London, Mr. Cecil H. Sp. Perceval, of Henbury, the Rev. 

 Mr. Cunningham, from Nottinghamshire, and many others. Dr. George Bennett, 

 Member of the Medical Faculty of the University, Sydney, New South Wales, 

 re-arranged his plans specially to attend the Hereford meeting. M. de Seynes 

 brought with him from Central Prance some magnificent specimens of the orange- 

 topped Agaricus ceesareus, the first species in Fries' Epicrisis, and the species 

 which, cooked under the direction of Agrippina, poisoned Claudius. None of 

 the Woolhopeans had seen the species before, and it was sketched on the spot. 

 M. Max. Cornu also brought a large number of species of fungi, notably Agar- 

 icus Eryngii — a parasite upon the roots of Eryngium campestre, and never yet 

 detected in this country. Mr. Berkeley could not come, as he was detained by 

 an examination in London ; he, however, sent a letter (enclosing two funguses) 

 congratulating the club on the fine weather. The Rev. J. E. Vize, of Forden, 

 the author of ^cidium depauperans, was detained for two days in Montgomery- 

 shire, as two persons in that benighted district had the bad taste to wish to be 

 married during the week of the "foray." Mr. Plowright, the surgeon, of King's 

 Lynn, was detained for two days, owing to some "cramming" process, the 

 details of which did not come to light. 



Never before were there so many visitors at Hereford from long distances, 

 and it was rumoured, on apparently good grounds, that next year would certainly 

 witness the arrival of the Mikado of Japan, and three botanists from Yokohama, 

 to see if they could not get some hints on fungus-growing better than their pre- 

 sent method of producing the "Shu-take" fungus bj' tapping the "Shu" tree with 

 a mallet. There would be no difficulty with the language, as Dr. Bull speaks all 

 languages (dead and living) with equal fluency. Dr. Bull entertained the visitors 

 from France to dinner, but during his temporary absence no one could remember 



