MASSEE : YORKSHIRE FUNGI. 209 



LIST OF YORKSHIRE FUNGI COLLECTED IN 1881. 



By GEORGE MASSEE, F.R.M.S., 



Cryptogamic Secretary to the Botanical Section of the Yorkshire 



Naturalists' Union. 



Fungi, until quite recently, or even at the present day, 

 have fewer students and admirers than any other section of the 

 vegetable kingdom. The large fleshy forms often resist drying, 

 or retain but little of their original appearance, and hence offer 

 no attractions to the body of ' naturalists, ' whose energy is 

 mostly expended in the formation of a collection. The litera- 

 ture, with the exception of books appertaining to names and 

 synonyms, is scattered ; the plants themselves are v/ith us 

 in numbers only for a comparatively short period of the year ; 

 and such probably are amongst the reasons for the paucity of 

 students. The modern tendency of botanical teaching, which 

 accords the place of honour to researches after the ' why and 

 wherefore ' instead of the ' name,' has brought into promin- 

 ence certain members of the group under consideration; indeed, 

 from a biological standpoint, the study of fungi cannot be 

 ignored by any one desirous of becoming acquainted with the 

 various processes of life. 



In the year 1788, Bolton commenced the work entitled, 

 ' Funguses about Halifax,' which yet — so far as pictures are of 

 value — is useful. There are in Yorkshire probably as many 

 funguses as flowering plants, and the following list — which in- 

 cludes only those species met with during the foray, or sent 

 from various parts of the county to the meeting, and those 

 observed at the Church Fenton ramble — is a first attempt to 

 record, in accordance with the present state of knowledge, the 

 Fungus Flora of Yorkshire. 



Many fungi being confessedly difficult to determine with 

 certainty, the utter worthlessness of many kinds when dried, 

 and their generally ephemeral nature, are the principal reasons 



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