Hertfordshire by Herbert Winckworth Tompkins
page 24 of 256 (09%)
page 24 of 256 (09%)
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illustration of their minute size it may be mentioned that a single drop
of water from the saucer of a flower-pot at Hertford, mounted as a microscopic slide, was found to contain 200,000 separate frustules of _Achnanthes subsessilis_, and it was estimated that these occupied only one twenty-fifth part of the drop. Both species of _Chlamidococcus_ (the old genus _Protococcus_), _C. pluvialis_ and _C. nivalis_ occur; and the pretty _Volvox globator_ has frequently been found. Of _the Lichens_ much less is known, only sixty-seven species having been recorded. The most noteworthy are _Calicium melanophæum_, found on fir-trees in Bricket Wood; _Peltigera polydactyla_, on moss-covered ground in Oxhey Woods, Watford; _Lecanora phlogina_, in the Tunnel Woods, Watford; and _Pertusaria globulifera_, on trees in the same woods and also in Bricket Wood. As woods in the vicinity of Hertford and of Watford only have been searched for lichens, our list ought to be largely increased by investigation in other parts of the county. Of _the Fungi_ our chief knowledge is derived from lists of species collected at Fungus Forays of the Hertfordshire Natural History Society and from records of the Mycetozoa by Mr. James Saunders. The number of species recorded for the county is 735, of which fifty-eight are "myxies". Of the Hymenomycetes, or mushroom-like fungi, some very noteworthy finds have been made, nearly all at Forays of the county society. They include two species new to Britain, _viz._, _Agaricus (Nolania) nigripes_, found in Aldenham Woods, Watford, and _Ag. (Hypholoma) violacea-ater_, in Gorhambury Park, St. Albans (by the present writer). Hertfordshire has also furnished the second British records for _Ag. (Lepiota) gliodermus_ (Broxbourne Woods), _Ag. (Leptonia) euochrous_ (Ashridge Woods), _Ag. (Psathyrella) aratus_ (Sherrard's Park, Welwyn), and _Paxillus Alexandri_ (Hatfield Park), |
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