157 



FIELD NOTES. 



ENTOMOLOGY. 

 An Addition to the List of Yorkshire Diptera. — The 



splendid list of additions to the Yorkshire list as published in 

 the ' Victoria County History,' contributed at pages 104-106 

 by Mr. Ashworth, reminds me that in the collection of the 

 insects of Doncaster and district made by Dr. Corbett, are 

 several examples of Stenepteryx hivundinis, not hitherto recorded 

 from the county, as well as specimens of Ornithomyia aviciilaria^ 

 hitherto recorded only from the Barnsley district. There is 

 every reason to believe that both these species of the family 

 Hippoboscidae are more common, and much more widely dis- 

 tributed than would seem from these meagre records. — E. G, 

 Bayford, Barnsley. 



FUNQI. 



tlydnum auriscalpium in Lines. — On the i6th of March, 

 Mr. R. W. Goulcling, Librarian, W'elbeck Abbey, sent me a 

 fungus for identification, which proved to be Hydmim auris- 

 calpium, Linn. It is not in the list of fungi in * The Flora of 

 West Yorkshire,' but in Mr. Crossland's ' Fungus Flora of the 

 Parish of Halifax ' the following note occurs with regard to 

 it : ' Under fir tree in plantation about Halifax, in September 

 and October, Bolton, Table 90, on fir cones.' From this I con- 

 clude that it has not been observed lately there, nor in the West 

 Riding. On communicating again with Mr. Goulding, he sends 

 me the following very interesting letter : ' I dare say you know 

 the name of John Lightfoot, author of " The Flora Scotica " ; 

 he was chaplain and librarian to Margaret, Duchess of Portland,, 

 and helped Her Grace to identify fungi. In one of his letters 

 to her he writes : " The Hydnum growing out of the fir-cones 

 pleased me most exceedingly. It was never known to be an 

 English species till your Grace discovered it to be so. It is the 

 Hydnum auriscalpium of Linnaeus." ' * Isn't it odd,' adds Mr. 

 Goulding, ' that I should have sent you the same thing 140 years 

 later ? ' I can well imagine that this small fungus, with its 

 hairy, kidney-shaped pileus, purplish spines, darkest at their 

 tips, slender stem, rooting in the fir-cones and tomentose, * took 

 the fancy ' of both John Lightfoot and Her Grace. It is only 

 about half-an-inch across, so would elude the notice of any but 

 those who are possessed of the " toadstool eye ! " W. Fowler, 

 Liversedge. 



1908 April I. 



