Page:VCH Hertfordshire 1.djvu/115

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BOTANY bury Park, and (Hypholoma) hypoxanthus in Sherrards Park Wood. In 1896 a species of the same sub-genus new to Britain Ag. (H.) violaceo- ater was found by the present writer in the Hollows, Gorhambury, and was sent to Mr. Massee for determination. The last Agaricus to be mentioned is Ag. (Psatbyrella) arafus, which was found in 1893 in Sherrards Park Wood, the second British locality. Of the rest of the Agaricini we have the following rare species : Cortinarius azureus found in Sherrards Park Wood ; Paxillus Alexandri in Hatfield Park in 1890, being the second British specimen, the first one having been found in Hatfield Park, Essex, in 1888 ; Lactarius cremor in Sherrards Park Wood ; Russula barlce in Ashridge Park ; and Nyctalis cremor in Sherrards Park Wood. Of the rarer Polyporei we found Strobilomyces strobilaceus under an oak tree in Grove Park in 1895, mentioned by Mr. Massee at the time as ' the rarest and most interesting of British fungi,' and Poria sanguinolenta in Cassiobury Park in 1897. And lastly the rarer Clavarieas are represented by C/avaria stricta, found by Mr. Henry Warner in Broxbourne Woods in 1892 after the fungus foray held there. 2. GASTROMYCETES Phallus ... I Bovista . . . i Scleroderma. . 3 Sphzrobolus . i Geaster ... 2 Lycoperdon . . 5 Cyathus i The well-known stinkhorn (Phallus impudicus) is of frequent occur- rence, and on one occasion it was recognized by its smell and only found after a vigilant search. A specimen of Geaster fornicatus found near Watford was exhibited at a recent meeting of the Hertfordshire Natural History Society, and several specimens of G. Bryantii were some years ago found by the writer growing on a roadside bank near Bow Bridge, between St. Albans and Redbourn. One was sent to Dr. M. C. Cooke for determination and the others are now in the County Museum at St. Albans. Lycoperdon saccatum and excipuliforme have been found in the wood above Aldbury, and Scleroderma bovista and verrucosum in Digswell Park, the latter species also in Gorhambury Park. 3. Uromyces . . 4 Phragmidium . 5 Melampsora . i Caeoma . . . I Puccinia ... 20 Endophyllum . I Coleosporium . 3 /Ecidium . . I Triphragminium I Gymnosporangium 2 Uredo . . . i In several orders of the fungi there are species which are parasitic on the leaves of flowering plants and on the fronds of ferns, but most of the microscopic leaf-fungi and all those which in the most conspicuous stage of their existence are known as ' cluster-cups ' belong to the Uredineas or to the Ustilagineae, which until recently were considered to be families of the Coniomycetes or dust-like fungi, this term appertain- ing to their spores, which are their chief feature. 1 Indeed it is by their 1 The nomenclature in Plowright's British Uredinea and Ustilaginea is followed in treating of the Uredineae. 73