Heordshire | Page 7

scarcity of ferns is the proximity of
Hertfordshire to London, for they have been uprooted and taken there
for sale in cart-loads. We have twenty-four species of ferns and
fern-allies, but not one really rare. The principal varieties are
Scolopendrium vulgare, var. multifidum; Athyrium filixfæmina[c], var.
convexum; and Polypodium vulgare, var. serratum. _Equisetum
silvaticum_ is our rarest horsetail; and our only clubmoss is
Lycopodium clavatum.
The Mosses are much better represented than the ferns, 175 species
having been recorded. The bog-mosses are represented by six
species--Sphagnum intermedium, cuspidatum, _subsecundum,
acutifolium, squarrosum, and cymbifolium. Tetraphis pellucida_ occurs
in Sherrard's Park Wood, and Polytrichum urnigerum in Hitch Wood.
Seligeria pusilla has been found in an old chalk-pit in Brocket Park,
and S. paucifolia on chalk nodules in the Tunnel Woods near Watford.
Campylopus pyriforme occurs in Berry Grove Wood, Aldenham, and C.
flexuosus in Dawley's Wood, Tewin.

Of the Liverworts (Hepaticæ) forty-four species are known to occur;
and the Stoneworts (Characeæ) are represented by seven species--two
of Chara, two of Tolypella, and three of Nitella.
The Algæ have been pretty fully investigated, especially the
Diatomaceæ, of the 252 species of Algæ known to occur in the county,
156 belonging to that interesting family of microscopic plants. As an
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), this
species having first been recorded from Hatfield Park, Essex; and the
second and third British record for Agaricus (Clytocybe) Sadleri
(Ashridge Park and Cassiobury Park). The very rare _Strombilomyces
strombilaceus_ has been found in Grove Park, Watford, and the still
rarer Peziza luteo-nitens on the Chalk slopes between Aldbury and
Ashridge Park. Lastly it may be mentioned that Mr. Saunders added the
"myxie" Physarum citrinum to the British fungus-flora from specimens
found by him at Caddington and Welwyn.
The Birds of Hertfordshire have been carefully observed, and the
appearance of rare visitors has been duly recorded. At a lecture
delivered at St. Albans in 1902, Mr. Alan F. Crossman, F.L.S., F.Z.S.,
stated that 212 species had been known to visit the county, and
mentioned, inter alia, that the kingfisher is more numerous in
Hertfordshire than formerly, that the heron nested in the county for the
first time in 1901, and that the appearance of the bearded titmouse had
been noticed on but three occasions. During the last forty years the
following birds, among others, have been noticed as occasional
visitants: the storm-petrel (Procellaria pelagica), golden oriole
(Oriolus galbula), whooper-swan (Cygnus musicus), snow-bunting
(Plectrophanes nivalis), greater spotted woodpecker (Picus major),
black tern (Hydrochelidon nigra), great northern diver (_Colymbus
glacialis), herring-gull (Larus argentatus_), cormorant (Phalacrocorax
carbo), tufted duck (Fuligula cristata), hoopoe (Upopa epops),
crossbill (Loxia curvirostra), sheldrake (_Tadorna cornuta),
Guillemot[d] (Lornvia troile), Pallas' sandgrouse (Syrrhaptes
paradoxus), rock thrush (Monticola saxatilis_), black redstart (Ruticilla
titys), Dartford warbler (Silvia undata), grasshopper warbler
(Locustella nævia)[d], waxwing (Ampelis garrulus), twite (Linota
flavirostris), hen harrier (Circus cyaneus), buzzard (_Buteo vulgaris),
redshank (Totanus calidris), greenshank (Totanus cunescens) and the
little auk (Mergulus alle_).
The lapwing is thought to be increasing in numbers; the writer
frequently observed considerable flocks during his recent rambles in
the county. Finches are perhaps as numerous in Hertfordshire as in any

other