1885-1886.] 431 



weather of the previous day and early morning proved more 

 promising, left by the 10.45 train for Crossgar, where they were 

 joined by several other members. At once proceeding to the 

 well-wooded grounds of Rademon, to which entrance had been 

 kindly granted by R. B. Davidson, Esq., a halt was called, and 

 Dr. Beck appointed chairman for the day, and the business 

 commenced. The special feature of this excursion was the col- 

 lection and study of the fungi of the locality, or, as it has be- 

 come more popularly termed a " Fungus Foray," this being 

 now the third foray of the kind which the Club has organised 

 and carried out, the former ones to Shane's Castle and Killy- 

 moon having been most successful, stimulating research in that 

 department of botany, and adding much to the local knowledge 

 of that interesting group of plants. The Rademon woods, how- 

 ever, proved comparatively barren of fungi, only fifty-eight 

 species having come under notice, whereas nearly three times 

 that number were catalogued at Killymoon, and also at Shane's 

 Castle. The main reason of this paucity of species may be, 

 perhaps, attributed to the geological character of the ground, 

 the Silurian rocks not yielding so suitable a soil for the growth 

 of toadstools and their allies. It was noticeable that not a 

 single specimen of the ordinary mushroom, Agaricus campes^ 

 tris, was found, and only two other edible species {A. procerus 

 and Boletus edulis) were collected during the day. The hand- 

 some, but poisonous fly agaric — the most showy of our native 

 species Agaricus muscarius, — was present in several spots, and a 

 decaying birch tree produced the large white balls with an acid 

 smell and taste that are the immature state of Polyporus betii- 

 linus. The only rarity picked up was Agaricus militares — a 

 fine large species, with a cinnamon coloured cover to its cap. 

 The lacterii, or milky mushrooms, and the russulas, which are 

 mostly very abundant in wooded places, were remarkable by 

 the scarcity of the one family, and the entire absence of the 

 other. The wild undergrowth of the wood, and the absence of 

 leading paths, is to be blamed for breaking up the party, for once 

 having lost sight of the leaders, it was next to impossible to find 

 them again. Thus the party may be said to have hunted in sec- 



