EPPING FOREST. 



ITS FUNGI. 



" You demi-puppets, that 

 By midnight do the green-sour ringlets make 

 Whereof the ewe not bites ; and you, whose pastime 

 Is to make midnight mushrooms." — 77/1? Tempest. 



I DO not know that it is anything to be proud 

 of, but, as a matter of fact, Epping Forest is blessed 

 with an abundance of toadstools beyond any other 

 district within easy reach of London. The sur- 

 face of the ground and the stems of partially 

 decayed trees are studded in the autumn months 

 with a great variety of forms of fungi, some re- 

 markable for the brilliance of their colours, others 

 noteworthy for their curious forms. In size they 

 vary from huge gnarled specimens a foot in 

 diameter to the minutest thread - like mildew. 

 Some are fashioned like parasols, others are con- 

 cave and resemble vases or goblets. Some are 

 circular, some columnar, and others have no de- 

 fined shape at all. The colours comprise black, 

 pearly white, purple, orange, yellow, and the most 

 brilliant scarlet. Some are smooth and satiny in 

 appearance, others studded with scales and bosses 

 of darker colour. Their characteristics change to 

 an extraordinary extent with the different stages of 



