2 I 



FUNGI OF MASHAM AND SWINTON. 



CHAS. CROSSLAND, F.L.S., 

 Halifax ; Hon. Sec. Yorkshire Mycological Committee. 



In the circular announcing - the Bank Holiday meeting" of 

 the Yorkshire Naturalists' Union at Masham (August 3rd~5th), 

 the paragraph headed 'Fungi' says: — 'No records, but Mr. 

 W. Forbes, Swinton, writes that Fungi are very abundant.' 

 This combined statement acted as an incentive to a few 

 Yorkshire mycologists to try and make a beginning. These 

 were Messrs. J. Williams Sutcliffe, Halifax, Thomas Gibbs, 

 Sheffield, and the writer. Unfortunately, although the excur- 

 sion was a 'week-ender,' none of us were able to put in more 

 than one full day. Two or three other members of the Union, 

 notably Mr. John Naughton, of Harrogate, took a more than 

 usual interest in this too-much-neglected, though very important, 

 branch of natural history. We were indebted to Mr. Forbes 

 for directing- us to the most likely localities in which to meet 

 with the objects of our search. This gentleman is arboriculturist 

 on the estates of Lord Masham, and is personally familiar with 

 every part of the extensive woods and plantations. His 

 sylviculture is carried on upon the most approved scientific lines, 

 and every effort is being made by him to minimise the attacks of 

 parasitic fungi upon his trees and shrubs. In great stretches 

 of woodland and plantation, principally of a mixed character, 

 conifers often predominating, the trees were the very picture 

 of health and active growth. There were one or two places 

 where matters did not look so very promising, but he con- 

 fidently asserted that he would soon have all right, even there. 

 The places we found best, from a mycological point of view, 

 were in the older parts of the woods, in moist places by the 

 river side. Many wild-plant parasites in the shape of Uredines 

 were met with. There were also saprophytes in abundance on 

 the dead branches, etc., if one had only had more time to look 

 them up. The beautiful blue-green mycelium of Chlorospleniam 

 ceruginosum had stained some of the broken branches quite 

 through. Armillaria mellea was here, and will be a tough 

 customer to eradicate. At this particular place it appeared to 

 have been established for some time. One affected tree had 

 been cut down ; on making a careful examination, the mycelium 

 was found to envelope the whole tree beneath the bark, from 

 base to apex, in a vast network of brown, cord-like strands. 



1902 January 1. 



