00llj0pB Jiattrraltsts' JFidtr Club, 



THE FUNGUS FOEAYS, If 



On Monday evening, October 1st, the visitors slowly concentrated themselves at 

 the Speech House, in the Forest of Dean, and were met on the following morning 

 in the Forest, or afterwards at the Hotel, by the Hereford contingent. Cold it 

 might be, for some of the party swept the snow from the grass into their hands 

 at about 10 a.m.: but it was clear and bright. As for the fungi, truly they were 

 few and far between, the oldest excursionist venturing the opinion that it was the 

 worst prospect of a fungus foray which the Woolhope Club ever experienced, bad 

 as it was in the previous year. The ground was moist enough, it is true, but so 

 cold, that only on the sunniest slopes could the commonest species be found, and 

 even these were scarce and scattered. Whether in anticipation of such a result, 

 or from a combination of various circumstances, the company was much smaller 

 than usual. It included Messrs. T. B. Acton, C. Bucknall, Dr. Carlyle, M. C. 

 Cooke, T. Howse, W. Phillips, Kev. J. E. Vize, H. T. Wharton, in addition to 

 the President, the President elect, and a few old Woolhopeans, who, under 

 the guidance of the indefatigable H. C. Moore, had travelled by train from 

 Hereford to Newnham-on-Severn, where they were met by carriages from the 

 Speech House which deposited them at Danby Beeches. From Danby Beeches 

 they walked to Blackpool Bridge, examined there the traces of the paving of the 

 old Eoman road, thence past Moseley Green Turnpike through the Spruce Fir 

 Drive, finally, after a delightful walk of four miles, met the visitors at the Speech 

 House Hotel, which party had made their excursion in a circuit at some distance 

 from the Hotel. 



No record was kept of the species observed, but nearly everything in 

 moderately good condition found its way into the collecting baskets, and yet they 

 were not full. Rarities and novelties were out of the question, and never, 

 perhaps, were common species treated with so much care and consideration. 

 Even Agaricus mellcus and A. fascicularis were treated with respect ; one gentle- 

 man actually took off his hat in the presence of almost the only specimen of 

 A. rubescens encountered in the Forest. Last year CantharcUus aurantiacus was 

 one of the commonest species, sometimes growing by hundreds, but this year not 

 a single one could be found. There was no dearth of walking— naught but 

 walking " on, on, for ever " — to stoop and pick up a fungus was an event, but, 

 alas ! it was seldom worth the trouble of stooping for. It was worthy of note, that 

 although the large genus Agaricus contains some 700 British species, the number 



