LANCASHIRE ASCOMYCETES 183 



vice-county for the South Lancashire Flora Committee of the 

 Liverpool Botanical Society, the writer has searched through 

 local literature for the purpose of collating published records, but 

 only one or two brief lists have been found, and these relate to 

 South Lancashire only. 



Probably the first and only list containing Ascomycetes is 

 that given in The Manchester Flora by Leo H. Grindon (1859), 

 but no definite localities are quoted for some of the species named, 

 and these cannot be included, as it is doubtful whether they 

 occurred in Lancashire or Cheshire, and some of those for \f hich 

 stations are indicated have been excluded, it being uncertain to 

 which modern species the author referred. A few solitary records 

 and notes have been gleaned from more recent publications, and 

 these are quoted under the respective species mentioned. 



Hence the following list consists for the greater part of the 

 results of recent investigation, extending over the past two or 

 three years only, and confined to limited portions of both vice- 

 counties. Consequently this must be regarded as an introduction 

 to the flora, not indicating in any degree the distribution or relative 

 frequency of the species named, nor as being even approximately 

 complete. It may not be out of place to mention here that the 

 Basidiomycetes and other groups of fungi are also receiving 

 attention. 



The results so far obtained indicate the probability of further 

 discoveries of interest, and are pubhshed with the hope of stimu- 

 lating, if possible, greater activity in this direction among local 

 botanists, so that a fairly representative list of fungi may be 

 compiled for inclusion in the projected Flora of South Lancashire, 

 and a more complete knowledge gained of the species occurring 

 in the adjacent vice-county. 



For the arrangement and nomenclature of the Pyrenomycetes, 

 I have followed Saccardo's Sylloge Fungorum, and the identifi- 

 cations have been made chiefly with the aid of the descriptions 

 in this work supplemented by A. N. Berlese's fine companion 

 work Icones Fungorum. 



The numbers preceding localities refer to the Watsonian vice- 

 comital divisions, viz. 59 South Lancashire and 60 West Lan- 

 cashire, the dividing line of which is the River Kibble. 



I am indebted to Dr. J. W. EUis, of Liverpool, and Mr. H. 

 Murray, of Manchester, for various records of interest. For 

 forwarding specimens my thanks are due to those gentlemen 

 whose names appear in the list, and also to Messrs. J. W. Hartley 

 (Carnforth), G. H. Hopley (Brinscall), W. G. Travis (Liverpool), 

 Albert Wilson, F.L.S. (Ilkley), and J. A. Wheldon, F.L.S. (Liver- 

 pool). The initials following localities refer to these contributors 

 except "C. C, &c.," which denotes that the specimen was collected 

 on an excursion in the company of Mr. Crossland and some 

 members of the Liverpool Botanical Society. Where no authority 

 is quoted, the responsibility rests with the writer alone, or jointly 

 with Mr. J. A. Wheldon. 



I especially desire to accord my thanks to Mr. Charles Cross- 



