22 



Crossland : Fungi of Masham and Swinton. 



Mr. Forbes had provided a very able lieutenant as supple- 

 mentary leader, in the person of Mr. W. A. Thwaites, Masham, 

 one of the carpenters on the estate ; it was soon found that he 

 also took a keen interest in fungi, and proved exceedingly helpful. 



On comparing" notes it was found that 106-8 known species 

 had been noted. A fortnight later the writer, accompanied by 

 Mr. U. Bairstow, Halifax, paid another short visit to the district, 

 when a few more were added to the list. Messrs. Forbes and 

 Thwaites again rendered both advice and assistance. The 

 desirability of continuing the investigations for a month or 

 two, as opportunity afforded, was talked over, when both our 

 friends readily took up the suggestion and followed it out. 

 Between Aug. 17th and Nov. 2nd, about 40 consignments of 

 fungi were sent on to Halifax. On summing up the work, it 

 was found the record of species had grown from nil to 416 : 

 not a bad season's work for a comparatively small area. They 

 were nearly all gathered in the valley of the Burn : the majority 

 in the vicinity of the estates saw-mill, where there is plenty of 

 decaying undergrowth, and also rotting bark and wood. This 

 affords another instance of what may be done in mycological 

 investigation. (Another striking example will shortly be forth- 

 coming in the 'Yorkshire List of Fungi,' showing the vast 

 quantity of field work done in this line by Mr. Needham about 

 Hebden Bridge.) 



In addition to the number stated above, between 20 and 30 

 had to be laid on one side undetermined. 



A noticeable feature in the accompanying records is the 

 number of species belonging to the two genera Mycena and 

 Helotinm. Many other genera are also well represented, e.g., 

 Lepiota, Tricholoma, Pleurotus, Trichia, etc. Among the rarer 

 Yorkshire things are Pleurotus applicatus, Pluteus pellitus, Russula 

 teruginea, Nyctalis parasitica, Marasmius polyadelphus, etc. 



So far as can be ascertained at present, there are no 

 species new to science. There are two additions to the 

 British Flora, Ombrophila decolorans (Berk. & Curt.) = Bulgaria 

 decolorans Berk. & Curt. , Grevillea, Vol. 4 (1876), p. 6; and 

 Mollisia amenticola (Sacc), Rehm. Rabh. Krypt. Flo. Disc, 

 p. 540. The former has hitherto been a North American species 

 gathered in Alabama by Peters (No. 5222) and described by 

 Berkeley and Curtis in Grevillea, I.e. The type specimen is 

 in Berkeley's Herbarium (North American Fungi, n. 771) at 

 Kew. It is one of those which has undergone re-description at 

 the hands of Mr. Massee, the full text of which, and a figure, 



Naturalist, 



