214 LISTER : THE STUDY OF MYCETOZOA IN BRITAIN. 
of which Hooker was editor. Berkeley consented, and in 
three years produced a book which at once took its place as 
the standard work on British fungi, a position it held for 35 
years. In later years, he wrote books to popularize the study 
of fungi, and a number of papers on the specimens sent him 
by many collectors at home and abroad ; but this work on 
British fungi was the most important volume Berkeley published. 
He writes that he could never have undertaken the task without 
the advantage of the stores Sir William Hooker had accumulated,, 
or of the help he received from his friends and correspondents. 
In his classification, and indeed in his definitions of genera and 
species, Berkeley followed the lines laid down by his corres¬ 
pondent, the eminent Swedish botanist, Elias Fries, whose 
classic work, written in Latin, on all the fungi then known, had 
appeared a few years previously. The Mycetozoa, still classed 
with Puffballs, are placed in a subclass to themselves called 
“ the Myxogastres,” and are defined as “ at first very soft and 
mucilaginous.” Sixty-six British species are described, grouped 
under 15 genera. Berkeley quotes valuable references to the 
works of earlier authors and gives careful notes on the characters 
of the specimens he had seen. In studying his book, one is im¬ 
pressed by the able manner in which he deals with what must 
have seemed at first an overwhelming mass of facts and material. 
His collections are now in the Kew Herbarium, where, accom¬ 
panying the specimens, one may read notes written in his 
small neat handwriting, to many of which careful pencil drawings 
are added. Berkeley’s private life was uneventful. After 
leaving Margate, he became rector of Kingscliffe, in his native 
county, Northamptonshire, and he lived there for 35 years. He 
then received the living of Sibbertoft, in Leicestershire, where 
he remained till his death, in 1889, at the age of 86. His means 
were small, his family large, and his health often poor, but his 
industry never flagged, and help and advice were readily given 
to the many correspondents who applied to him. 
Of the friends who assisted Berkeley in his scientific work, 
Charles Broome should receive mention. A number of papers 
on fungi appear under their joint names. Broome’s collections 
of Mycetozoa are now in the British Museum. In many cases 
the specimens are duplicates of those in Berkeley’s herbarium 
at Kew, showing that the friends had shared their treasures. 
