April, 1892. 



OUR COLUMNS. 



75 



the species were unsuccessful until I sought the kind aid of Mr. Worthington G. 

 Smith, of Dunstable, and Mr. W. B. Grove, of Birmingham, both high authorities 

 on Mycology. In 1886 I read a paper to the Beds. Natural History Society, recording 

 63 species which had been determined in that first season of search. Two or three 

 years later I read a lengthier paper on the Fungi generally, when the records had 

 exceeded a hundred. It should be explained that attention was given solely to those 

 species which are large enough to be handled and determined by the naked eye ; and, 

 with the exception of a dozen or so, the species belong to the group known as the 

 Hymeriomycetes, which include the mushrooms and those commonly called " toad- 

 stools." Of course, if such microscopic sorts as the smut, bunt, and innumerable 

 moulds were included, the list would soon run into thousands, for there is scarcely 

 a herb, shrub, or tree, that has not its fungoid parasite. In the first year of the 

 century. Dr. Abbot — who must have been a remarkably painstaking botanist — 

 published his Flora Bedfordiensis, in which there are no less than 381 species 

 of Fungi recorded for the county, including the microscopic kinds. Unfortunately 

 his work was of very little assistance to a modern investigator, as the names he 

 used had become obsolete, and their modern synonyms could only be ascertained by 

 reference to old and rare works. Mr. W. B. Grove kindly undertook the task of 

 unravelling their latter-day equivalents, and in the course of a year, during which 

 Mr. Grove made sundry journeys to London for the purpose of consulting some of 

 the aforesaid rare works, the revision was completed, and the document is in 

 the archives of the Natural History Section of the Library. Dr. Abbot recorded 

 about 150 Fungi of the same classes as those to which I began to give attention in 

 1885, besides some 40 doubtful ones, or a total of about 190. My present record 

 stands at 244 well established species, and there are many others which, owing to 

 their fleeting and changeable characters we were only able to decipher imperfectly. 

 Of Abbot's 190 species 104 have been confirmed within the last seven years, leaving 

 140 fresh records. In each succeeding season the same happy hunting grounds have 

 been gone over, mostly at Ampthill, Sandy, Kempston, Sharnbrook, Southill, Flitwick, 

 Clapham, and the vicinity of Bedford, confirming the old finds over and over again, 

 and adding a few new ones yearly. Most of the latter, duiring the past two or three 

 years, have been the discoveries of others, and my thanks are due to Mr. Ferraby, 

 lately the schoolmaster at Ampthill, and his son ; to Mr. E. M. Langley, M.A., Mr. 

 A. E. Hawkins, B.Sc, and Mr. A. W. Allen, B.A., for their kindness in sending me 

 specimens, and for their courage in imperilling their lives and health by testing the 

 edible qualities of some by cooking and eating them. Among the new records of 

 last year by Mr. E. M. Langley were Agaricus nehularis^ Elvensis^ infundihuliformis^ 

 sylvaticus, cemisatiis, and Paxillus giganteus^ of w^hich three are undoubtedly 

 edible, but I find Mr. Langley has tested seven or eight species, including 

 Ag. rachodes, which was found by Mr. Alex. Allen, at Doctor's Corner. The 

 first specimen I saw of this sort came from Belfast, but I had found at Ampthill, and 

 eaten, its sister, Ag. procerus ; others have done the same, and all agree that it has the 

 finest flavour of anything in the mushroom line. Last season fungus-eating became the 

 fashion on a small scale, the one mostly chosen being the blue-leg, which is common, 

 grows to a large size, and has long been held in high repute for its ketchup-making 

 properties. Coprinus comatus and the champignon are becoming more popular, as they 

 have been introduced to the notice of several working-men, who frequently indulge in 

 the luxury. The beef-steak, which grows on oak trees, is one of the choicest of fungoid 



