48 



Craterellus cornucopioides was a highly-relished novelty, cooked in honour 

 of M. Cornu. This funcrns, when prepared for the table, has a somewhat sin^ilar 

 appearance, being jet black in colour, and in this resembling burnt onions. Its 

 odour is highly inviting, and its taste truly delicious. 



After dinner Dr. Bull gave a record of the progress of mycology during the 

 year. In this report he touched on all the new work done by fungologists since 

 last autumn, and pleasantly referred, at some length, in the French language, to 

 the visitors from France and their works, so well known and appreciated in this 

 country. In happy and well-selected terms, he bade them a hearty welcome to 

 the Woolhope meeting, and then, again breaking off into English, he gave a 

 welcome to Dr. Bennett, of New South Wales, who was at the head of the table. 

 Dr. Bull's speech was followed by some remarks (also in French) from Dr. Steele, 

 of Abergavenny. The speech, by its fluency and pleasant allusions, took the room 

 by storm, and was replied to, first by M. de Seynes, and then by M. Maxime 

 Cornu. Both gentlemen expressed themselves delighted with this, their first visit 

 to England, and with the generous and hearty welcome they had received at 

 Hereford and elsewhere. They said how pleased they had felt to meet so many 

 English botanists, and how the different societies of France were arranging fungus 

 gatherings after the exact manner of the Woolhope Club. The Rev. C. H. Bulmer 

 then read a report on the progress of the forthcoming new illustrated work, to be 

 named The Herefordshire Pomona, in which work it is proposed to give life-size 

 coloured figures of all the best Apples and Pears grown in Herefordshire. The 

 last paper at the Green Dragon was a humorous one, by Dr. Cooke, termed "What 

 is the use of Fungus Hunting ? " 



THE SOIREE. 



At eight o'clock, a soiree, attended by a large number of botanists, was held 

 in the house of Thomas Cam, Esq. Here microscopes with high powers were 

 ready, and serious woi-k was commenced. M. Maxime Cornu described at some 

 length, in the French language, a disease of the vine, named " Anthracnose," 

 observed in the environs of Narbonne ; the description was accompanied by a 

 series of beautifully-executed drawings. The same gentleman exhibited highly- 

 finished drawings of new Agarics and other fungi. The next paper (by the writer 

 of this i-eport) was on a fossil Peronospora from the scalariform axis of a Lepido- 

 dendron from the Coal Measures. The fungus, therefore, existed during the 

 Palffiozoic epoch. One of the remarkable points in the plant exhibited, was that 

 zoospores could be seen under the microscope, still in situ, and another point of 

 interest was that these zoospores, and, indeed, the other parts of the parasite 

 exactly agreed, in size and habit, with the similar bodies found in the fungus of 

 the potato disease at the present day. The paper was illustrated by enlarged 

 drawings, and the actual specimens were exhibited under the microscope. This 

 extremely ancient fungus is now named Peronosporites antiquarius. The writer 

 of this also exhibited a singular growth of Penicillium glaucum at the bottom of a 

 bottle of callocine. 



