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FUNGUS FORAY 

 AT BRAMHAM AND HAREWOOD PARKS. 



The closing meeting of the Yorkshire NaturaHsts' Union for 1888, 

 held on Tuesday, the 25th of September, was organised as a Fungus 

 Foray, and as such was a decided success in every way. Thanks to 

 the very kind manner in which Lord Harewood and Mr. George 

 Lane Fox allowed the day's investigations to be carried out on their 

 respective estates, to the excellent and productive character of the 

 ground thus made available, to the abundance of fungi, to the 

 favourable character of the weather, and to the presence of 

 Mr. George Massee, F.R.M.S., of the Royal Herbarium at Kew, 

 who had accepted the Union's invitation to participate, and of a 

 goodly number of the keenest and most assiduous of the very few 

 Yorkshire botanists who study this group of plants, the excursions 

 were both enjoyable and profitable. The meeting held at Leeds in 

 the evening was well-attended, and the Show, which was open the 

 same evening and following day, was nearly as extensive and quite 

 as interesting as the very successful one laid out in Leeds in 1881, 

 on the occasion of the first Fungus Foray ever held in Yorkshire. 



Two parties were arranged for the excursion, starting in wagonettes 

 from the Leeds Museum at 9 o'clock in the morning. The larger 

 party went to Bramham, under the guidance of Mr. Massee ; the 

 smaller, to Harewood, under that of Mr. H. T. Soppitt, of Bradford. 

 Mr. Massee was accompanied by the Rev. Wm. Fowler, M.A., Mr. W. 

 Norwood Cheesman, Mr. Dewhirst, and other members, and was 

 met at Bramham by Mr. Lane Fox, who took a kindly interest in the 

 investigation, pointing out the most suitable woods on his estate, 

 after ascertaining the requirements most looked for by a fungological 

 party. This party collected about 124 species. 



The party headed by Mr. Soppitt, who was accompanied by 

 Messrs. W. West, F.L.S., A. Clarke, and others, was favoured by the 

 assistance of two or three of Lord Harewood's keepers, whose local 

 knowledge stood in good stead, and one of whom was of use in 

 swarming a tree for a specimen of the Vegetable Beef-Steak. The 

 ground investigated by Mr. Soppitt and his companions was varied 

 as well as extensive, including most excellent fir-woods on Wigton 

 Moor, and the splendid mixed woods (in which beech predominated) 

 of Harewood Park itself. No list of the species observed on this 

 route was kept at the time, but subsequent examination of results 

 showed that, with a few interesting exceptions, the majority of the 

 species were the same as those collected by the Bramham contingent. 



Nov. 1888. 



