154 



The Matuealist, 



th.e fa.ct of so many new and strong societies springing np of late years in all 

 parts of Yorkshire — the formation of several of these being distinctly traceable 

 to the influence exercised by the Union. 



"The concluding meeting during the past year — the fungus foray which was 

 postponed from the preceding year — was an experiment, and one which proved 

 very successful in every sense, except in so far as it involved, and necessarily so, 

 an unusually heavy pecuniary expense. This expense was necessitated by the 

 fact that the Union possessed among its members but one mycologist of the first 

 rank, and that it was consequently necessary to seek the assistance of distin- 

 guished mycologists from other parts of England, whom it was necessary to 

 treat as guests of the Union. The meetings occupied two days, on the first of 

 which excursions were organized to Studley Royal and to the woods at Beck- 

 withshaw near Harrogate. On the second day a fungus show was held in the 

 Leeds Mechanics' Institute, for which specimens were collected in 'every part of 

 the county by the members, and in the evening a dinner, at which the edible 

 species were served up, concluded the series of meetings. The Union are under 

 great obligation to Messrs. Wm. Phillips, of Shrewsbury, C. B. Plowright, of 

 King's Lynn, and the Eev. J. E. Yize, of Forden, for their presence and indis- 

 pensable assistance ; had it not been for their presence it would not have been 

 possible to hold a fungus show at all. The Union is also highly indebted to two 

 of its members, Messrs. Edward Birchall and Richard Reynolds, by whom the 

 visitors were suitably entertained. Favoured by suitable weather, an abundance 

 of specimens were met with, and upwards of, 300 species Were noted or collected, 

 the majority of them being represented at the show by selected specimens ; the 

 show itself being pronounced by our visitors as an extremely good one for a first 

 attempt. Tiu-ning to the financial aspect of the show, the total expenses 

 amounted to £ 1 4 odd, mainly for the carriage of parcels of fungi, rent of hall, 

 labour and expenses of entertaining visitors. A draft balance sheet was subse- 

 quently privately circiJated among the botanists of the Union, with the result 

 that a sufficient sum was subscribed to reduce the cost to about that of an 

 ordinary meeting. The general feeling among the members who took part in 

 the foray was that, to perpetuate the stimulus which it gave to the study of fungi 

 in Yorkshire, it is highly desirable to have a second one this autumn, provided 

 some guarantee could be entered into to meet the additional expense. The 

 experience gained by your secretaries leads them to the opinion that should the 

 Union sanction another foray it will be even more successful than the last, and 

 that public interest has been sufficiently roused to induce the belief that judicious 

 advertising of the show would cause the receipts to cover the greater part of the 

 expenditure, which cannot be decreased to any appreciable extent. 



" The council have recently resolved that, as far as practicable, future annual 

 meetings shall be selected from among the places from which formal invitations 

 have been received, and that, in making the selection, preference will be given to 

 towns possessing convenient railway facilities in which annual meetings have not* 

 been held for some years, and which are prepared to organise a conversazione or 

 exhibition on the occasion. 



" At the commencement of the year the Union included 28 societies, all of 

 which still remain in connection, while three — the Halifax Scientific Society, 

 with 157 members, the Keighley Scientific and Literary Society, with 30 mem- 



