THE ESSEX FIELD CLUB 
2 I 
Corporation of Colchester, and preparations had been made lor 
holding it on 26th September. But the Secretaries had regretfully 
to inform the members that, owing to the war, the military restrictions 
would not permit of the meeting taking place. It is sincerely to be hoped 
that national circumstances will next season be such as will allow of such 
an interesting meeting being held. 
ANNUAL FUNGUS FO R AY — C H 1 NGFORD TO HIGH 
BEACH (440th MEETING). 
Saturday, i;th October 1914. 
The arrangements were similar to those of former years. The Head¬ 
quarters were at the “ Roserville Retreat," High Beach, Epping Forest. 
The meeting-room was available for the use of members and visitors, 
throughout the day, and ample table room for the display of specimens 
was provided. There was a goodly gathering of members and visitors, 
the arrangements being under the control of the two Secretaries, Mr. P. 
Thompson and Mr. W. Cole ; the latter is much obliged to the principal 
Referees for the material used in this report. They were, for Basidiomy- 
cctes and Ascomycetes, Mr. Arthur A. Pearson, Mr. F. G. Gould, and Mr. 
A. D. Cotton, F.L.S. ; and for Myxomycetes Miss Gulielma Lister, F.L.S. As 
in former years, members of the Selborne Society and the School Nature 
Study Union took part in the meeting, by invitation of the Club. 
The morning party started from Chingford station at about 11 o’clock, 
and walked through the glades on the western edge of the Forest to High 
Beach. “ Owing to the prolonged dry weather very few specimens were 
collected on the ground,” writes Mr. Gould, “ particularly where the 
soil was of clay, but on gravelly soil, and on stumps and trees, fungus was 
rather more abundant. Thus Pholiotci spectabilis and adiposa— tree-para¬ 
sites—were much in evidence, while such species as Hypholoma fascicu- 
laris and sublateritius, Pluteus cervinus, Armillavia mucida , Psilocybe 
spadicea and Polystictus adustus, which occur on dead stumps, were also 
well represented. In the Birch-woods around High Beach Church, where 
gravel occurs, large numbers of the handsome “ Fly Agaric ” ( Amanita\ 
muscaria) were found, and also several species of Boletus. It was in¬ 
teresting to note that while there was an undoubted falling off both in 
quantity and variety, attributable to the dryness of the season, the 
scarcity was much more evident among the species usually found on 
clay soil than among those found growing in other soils and situations. 
The members of the afternoon party came to Loughton station, where 
they were met by Mr. Thompson. The two detachments met in the 
neighbourhood of Monk Wood, and the ground between that district 
and High Beach was then explored. In Mr. A. D. Cotton's notes he 
says, “ We really found very little on the way up from the station, and 
practically all I saw was in the show-room, where in gas light one takes 
as a rule all names as correct. 
" The Polypore I spoke of was what I thought it to be, Fomes 
fraxineus. It is not very common, and is distinguished from the allied 
