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Annual general meeting December 1969
Bulletin of the British Mycological Society Volume 4 Part 1. March 1970
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING DECEMBER 1969 THE REPORT OF THE PRESIDENT. PROF. J. WEBSTER I regret to have to report the deaths of 3 members - Mrs. P. A. Biggs, Mr. M. Rosenthal, and Dr. P. O'Connor. a very old friend. The Society continues to grow, and now numbers 1330 Members, Associates and Honorary Members. compared with 1215 last year. The increased subscription caused a number of resignations or transfers to Associates, but we had a considerable nett gain in membership during the year. The programme seems to become fuller every year, and we have to congratulate Dr. Madelin on a very successful group of meetings, three of which were organised in conjunction with the Federation of British Plant Pathologists. At the Spring Foray in Bury St. Edmunds where Dr. Byford was local secretary, we were honoured by the presence of Dr. Emory G. Simmons. last year's President of the American Mycological Society. The Autumn Foray at Oxford was a Mycological and social success, but meteorologically it fell short of ou r-u sual standard. Our distinguished foreign guest was Dr. Eckblad from Norway, an expert on Discomycetes. The burden of arranging this meeting fell on Dr. Lucas. In addition to these we held our usual full programme of day forays. These were well attended, but not very productive due to the dry season. To cope with the increasing flow of papers of high quality. Council decided in 1968 to publish 2 volumes of the Transactions with 3 parts in each volume. Volumes 52 and 53 appeared this year, including over 1.000 pages. The increasing use of the electron microscope has made it necessary to publish more plates. Alongside the increased flow of material to the Transactions, we have seen an increase in the size and status of the Bulletin, which is more and more becoming a vehicle for serious mycological publications e. g. keys to fungi, guides to literature as well as foray reports and accounts of meetings. Volume 3 runs to 138 pages. All these activities cost money.and in the face of an increasing drain on our r e se r ve e Council recommend increasing the subscription to £4. This may seem a steep rise. but it is the first increase for several years. and we estimate that it will allow a slight accumulation of reserves for a few years before our accounts again run into deficit. One of the Council's pre-occupations during the current year has been to make preliminary enquiries into the feasibility of holding an International Mycological Congress in 1971. An organising committee has been set up, and very shortly we shall have to make the critical decision whether or not to proceed. Some consideration must be given to the work load of Officers. As the Society increases in size. it is unlikely that we can continue to ask voluntary officers to do all the work. For the present however. we are proposing aMembership Secretary, and to this end will later be proposing an alteration to the rules.
2
We were delighted to hear of the award of the MBE to Dr. Lucas the 1st Secretary of the Society to be so honoured, and I think it is very perspicacious of the Prime Minister's office to single him out in this way. The game of "Mycological Chairs" has continued with an ever increasing tempo. In the last 3 years we have seen no fewer than 6 chairs filled by mycologists, in subjects as diverse as Botany, Forest Science, Agriculture and Biological Sciences. We congratulate Prof. Harley on his move to Oxford, Prof. Isaac on his promotion to a chair at Swansea, and Prof. Burnett on his impending move to Oxford. We also congratulate Dr. Colin Booth on his appointment to Assistant Director of the Commonwealth Mycological Institute. Finally I wish to thank members of the Society for electing me as their President for 1969 - an honour of which I am very conscious. I am grateful to all the Officers and <;:;ouncil members for their active support in guiding the Society, and for all the work they do on our behalf. In particular I thank Dr. J. M. Waterston, Editor for the past 5t years - during which he has edited 7 volumes of the Transactions. I know that I am passing the Society into capable hands with my successor Dr. Stephen Hutchinson, and I wish him every success in his double office of Treasurer / President for 1970. Following this report, the President proposed two members for election to Honorary Membership:One of the privileges which falls to the President is that he can take the initiative in proposing names for election to Honorary Membership ofthe Society. By our rules we are entitled to have 12. Our present number is 9. I therefore have considerable pleasure in proposing for Honorary Membership two mycologists who in their different ways have done so much to further the study of mycology in this country, by their stimulating and lively teaching and by their distinguished research. Both have in the past served the Society in various ways, as Council members and as Presidents. Both have had a considerable influence onmy own mycological education. It is with the greatest of pleasure that Ipropose from the chair the election to Honorary Membership of the Society of Prof. C. G. C. ChestersandProf. C. T. Ingold. The proposal was carried with acclamation. TREASURERS REPORT FOR THE YEAR ENDING 31st DECEMBER 1968. Income and Expenditure The sales of current and back volumes continue to increase; we raised the print number to 2350 at the beginning of the year, and it has since been increased again to 2500. In 1961 it was 1550. This change, together with the rise in the amount collected in subscriptions, reflects the healthy state of our membership and the efforts to increase sales during the period. The Bulletin is also well established, and while we price it in relation to Amateurs and societies with small incomes we can anticipate a small and increasing revenue from it in the future. There have been very heavy increases in expenditure, and you will see that the overall deficit on the printing account has increased from £ 1274 in 1967
3
to £ 3228 in 1968. The increase in print number and relatively minor increases in printing and distribution prices of the Bulletin and Transactions affected this, but by far the most significant factor was the issue of the double number of the Transactions in the autumn. The small increase in the cost of meetings and administration reflects the continual inflation of costs of materials and services. I think that the Society would again' wish me to express our thanks to the many Universities, Government andCommerical Institutions, and not least to our own members of course who give us so much unofficial help with the secretarial services and travelling expenses. Without this generous assistance the administrative costs would be very much higher. The increase in costs of the Federation includes the Society's contribution to hospitality at the International Plant Pathology Congress. The net result of activities was an .excess of expenditure over income of £1525, compared with a surplus of income of £400 at the end of 1967. The actions which Council have taken about this expected situation were reported to you by the President during the year, and I have been asked to de sc ribe them to you in great detail at the end of this report. This loss has been shown in the Balance Sheet, in which you see that the balance of our general items has been reduced to £6902. You will also see that we have rearranged the records of the benefactions which we have received at various times in the past, up till now these have each been maintained in separate funds until the money was spent, and then no further record was maintained. Council considered this system during the year; they concluded that the formation of a single Benefactors fund would enable the Society to use the money in a more efficient way in an inflationary economy, and at the same time enable us to maintain a permanent record of our appreciation of our benefactors gifts. We are particularly concerned with this last point, and each year we propose to remind members of the names of those who have contributed to this fund. I therefore now ask the Society to remember with gratitude the names of: N. Cheesman, George H. Pethybridge, Mrs. E. M. Robinson in memory of E. K. Robinson, Arthur A. Pearson, Miss Guilelma Lister, Walter C. Moore, who contributed to the Benefactors Fund. I am grateful to you, Sir, and to the members of Councilfor guidance and help during the year, and I acknowledge the unfailing co-operation I get from at least half of the Trustees. The auditors make no comments on the accounts other than those on the balance sheet, and I submit them for your approval. Report on Finances The general strategy of Society has been to avoid the irritation of frequent sma.Il changes in subscription - Council think most rnembe r s prefer a system of more determined steps from one stable state to another such steps look bigger but come at longer intervals. The last change was in 1961. At that time we had been exceeding our income for some years, and we rai sed the subscription froIn f 1. lOs to £2. lOs. with the idea of replacing some of these reserves for a year or two; we had no wish to set up a big capital, but just to provide enough to see us past any reasonable eInergencyover a one or two year period. We said that we would not expect to raise subscriptions again until we actually started to lose money. We knew that it would take a year to raise the subscription once the decision had been made, but we planned
4 to build up enough reserves to meet this contingency when it developed. The surplus dropped by the forecasted £500 a year till 1967. and if publications had remained the same it would have been zero in 1968 which I have j u s t reported to you . But a new factor came i nt o situation - the popul arity of tne Transactions led to a substantial back log of papers, and by 1968 it was appa rent that Transactions needed to be increased in size to cope with theIn in reasonable tiIne. We have steadily increased the trade price of the journal to cope w ith i n c r e a s e s in printing costs etc. during this period. It v:.as £3 in 61, £4. 62/63, £4.10. 64/65, £6. 66/68, £10. for 1969 (£5 per volume). But the Press have g iven us very clear estimates of the effects of rising costs on publishing over the next two years , and it is quite obvious that we could not expect both to increase the she of the journal and to meet these increased costs per page by trade revenue alone. Nor, in fact, would the Society wish to do so . Council felt qurte strongly that we would not wish our own copies of the journal to be very grossly subsidised through profits iroIn commercial sales. We therefore calculated the likely efforts of various cornbfna-. t ions of increase of trade price and subscriptions, and decided that the provident action would be to increalle the Trade price to £ 15 (1. e. £ 7 .10. per 3 part vo lurne ] from 1 Jan. 70 and simultaneously to increase rnernbers subscriptions to £4 per year. Working from Press estimates of rate of increase of printing costs etc. this should give us a surplus of income over expenditure for about a couple of years, then we can expect a couple of years on our reserves before corning to the Society again. Detailed figures on which these estimates are based have been discussed with Council - I should be glad to show them to any member who wishes to see them. Otherwise I can only conunendCouncils decision as a wise and provident way of dealing with the mass of uncertainties which surround us.
BRITISH MYCOLOGICAL SOCIETY SLIDE COLLECTION General Collection
Box A.
Agarics l , Agaricus campestris, 2. A. vi l laticu a, 3 . A. xanthodermus. 4. Amanita citr ina, 5. A. fu lva, 6. 7 . A. mu aca r -Ia , 8. A. phalloides , 9 . 10. A . rubescens. II, 12. A . vag i nat a , 13, 14 . Armillaria mellea. 15. Asterophora ly e o p e r d o id e s . 16 . A. pa ra aitfc a, 17. Bolbitius vitellinus. 18. Boletus badius, 19 . B. chrysenteron, 20. B. e Ieg ans, 21. B. granulatus, 22. B. luteu s, 23. B. parasitieus on Scleroderma. 24. B. purpureus . 25. B. reticulatus, 26. B. aatanu s, 27. B. Beaber. 28. Cantharellus c ib a.r iu s , 29. C litocybe eeruuata, 30. C. f'Iac c i da, 31. C. g eot ropa, 32. C. infundibuliformis. 33. C. nebu la r t s, 34. Collybia eockei, 35. C . ezyths-opue, 36. C. tesquorum, 37. Coprinus atramentarius. 38. C. comatus, 39. C . disseminatus, 40. C. lagopus, 41. C. mtc aceua, 42. C. ntveu.a, 43. C. picaceus, 44,45. C. plicatilis, 46. Cortinarius flexipes. 47. C. torvus, 48. C. trivialis,49. Craterellus co rnuccpiotde s, 50. Crepidotus rno Ilf s , 51, C. variabi Ha, 52. Cystoderma amianthina. 53. Galerina hypno rurn, 54. G. mutabilis, 55. Gornphidius glutinosus. 56. G. rutilis, 57,58. Gyrnnopflua junoninu•• 59. G. penetrans, 60. Hygrophorus cocc i n eu s, 61 . H. corucua, 62. H. pratenais. 63., H . psittacinus, 64. H. virgineus, 65 . H. vitellinull. 66, 67. Hypholoma fascicuIa r e , 68 . H. sublateritium. 69 . Laccaria amethystea, 70. L.proxima, 71. Lactarius cilicioidcs, 7 2 . L actarius quietus, 73. L. rufus, 74. L . torminosus. 75 . L . turpis. 7 6. Lepiota fr ies ii. 77. L . rhaeodes, 78. Lepiata nuda. 79. L.llaeva. 80. Macrocystidia c u curni s, 8 1. M arasmius rotuta, 82, Melanoleuea melaleuca. 8 3. My eena galopua , 84. M . gypsea, 85. M. inelinata, 86. M. polygramma. 87 .
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING DECEMBER 1969 THE REPORT OF THE PRESIDENT. PROF. J. WEBSTER I regret to have to report the deaths of 3 members - Mrs. P. A. Biggs, Mr. M. Rosenthal, and Dr. P. O'Connor. a very old friend. The Society continues to grow, and now numbers 1330 Members, Associates and Honorary Members. compared with 1215 last year. The increased subscription caused a number of resignations or transfers to Associates, but we had a considerable nett gain in membership during the year. The programme seems to become fuller every year, and we have to congratulate Dr. Madelin on a very successful group of meetings, three of which were organised in conjunction with the Federation of British Plant Pathologists. At the Spring Foray in Bury St. Edmunds where Dr. Byford was local secretary, we were honoured by the presence of Dr. Emory G. Simmons. last year's President of the American Mycological Society. The Autumn Foray at Oxford was a Mycological and social success, but meteorologically it fell short of ou r-u sual standard. Our distinguished foreign guest was Dr. Eckblad from Norway, an expert on Discomycetes. The burden of arranging this meeting fell on Dr. Lucas. In addition to these we held our usual full programme of day forays. These were well attended, but not very productive due to the dry season. To cope with the increasing flow of papers of high quality. Council decided in 1968 to publish 2 volumes of the Transactions with 3 parts in each volume. Volumes 52 and 53 appeared this year, including over 1.000 pages. The increasing use of the electron microscope has made it necessary to publish more plates. Alongside the increased flow of material to the Transactions, we have seen an increase in the size and status of the Bulletin, which is more and more becoming a vehicle for serious mycological publications e. g. keys to fungi, guides to literature as well as foray reports and accounts of meetings. Volume 3 runs to 138 pages. All these activities cost money.and in the face of an increasing drain on our r e se r ve e Council recommend increasing the subscription to £4. This may seem a steep rise. but it is the first increase for several years. and we estimate that it will allow a slight accumulation of reserves for a few years before our accounts again run into deficit. One of the Council's pre-occupations during the current year has been to make preliminary enquiries into the feasibility of holding an International Mycological Congress in 1971. An organising committee has been set up, and very shortly we shall have to make the critical decision whether or not to proceed. Some consideration must be given to the work load of Officers. As the Society increases in size. it is unlikely that we can continue to ask voluntary officers to do all the work. For the present however. we are proposing aMembership Secretary, and to this end will later be proposing an alteration to the rules.
2
We were delighted to hear of the award of the MBE to Dr. Lucas the 1st Secretary of the Society to be so honoured, and I think it is very perspicacious of the Prime Minister's office to single him out in this way. The game of "Mycological Chairs" has continued with an ever increasing tempo. In the last 3 years we have seen no fewer than 6 chairs filled by mycologists, in subjects as diverse as Botany, Forest Science, Agriculture and Biological Sciences. We congratulate Prof. Harley on his move to Oxford, Prof. Isaac on his promotion to a chair at Swansea, and Prof. Burnett on his impending move to Oxford. We also congratulate Dr. Colin Booth on his appointment to Assistant Director of the Commonwealth Mycological Institute. Finally I wish to thank members of the Society for electing me as their President for 1969 - an honour of which I am very conscious. I am grateful to all the Officers and <;:;ouncil members for their active support in guiding the Society, and for all the work they do on our behalf. In particular I thank Dr. J. M. Waterston, Editor for the past 5t years - during which he has edited 7 volumes of the Transactions. I know that I am passing the Society into capable hands with my successor Dr. Stephen Hutchinson, and I wish him every success in his double office of Treasurer / President for 1970. Following this report, the President proposed two members for election to Honorary Membership:One of the privileges which falls to the President is that he can take the initiative in proposing names for election to Honorary Membership ofthe Society. By our rules we are entitled to have 12. Our present number is 9. I therefore have considerable pleasure in proposing for Honorary Membership two mycologists who in their different ways have done so much to further the study of mycology in this country, by their stimulating and lively teaching and by their distinguished research. Both have in the past served the Society in various ways, as Council members and as Presidents. Both have had a considerable influence onmy own mycological education. It is with the greatest of pleasure that Ipropose from the chair the election to Honorary Membership of the Society of Prof. C. G. C. ChestersandProf. C. T. Ingold. The proposal was carried with acclamation. TREASURERS REPORT FOR THE YEAR ENDING 31st DECEMBER 1968. Income and Expenditure The sales of current and back volumes continue to increase; we raised the print number to 2350 at the beginning of the year, and it has since been increased again to 2500. In 1961 it was 1550. This change, together with the rise in the amount collected in subscriptions, reflects the healthy state of our membership and the efforts to increase sales during the period. The Bulletin is also well established, and while we price it in relation to Amateurs and societies with small incomes we can anticipate a small and increasing revenue from it in the future. There have been very heavy increases in expenditure, and you will see that the overall deficit on the printing account has increased from £ 1274 in 1967
3
to £ 3228 in 1968. The increase in print number and relatively minor increases in printing and distribution prices of the Bulletin and Transactions affected this, but by far the most significant factor was the issue of the double number of the Transactions in the autumn. The small increase in the cost of meetings and administration reflects the continual inflation of costs of materials and services. I think that the Society would again' wish me to express our thanks to the many Universities, Government andCommerical Institutions, and not least to our own members of course who give us so much unofficial help with the secretarial services and travelling expenses. Without this generous assistance the administrative costs would be very much higher. The increase in costs of the Federation includes the Society's contribution to hospitality at the International Plant Pathology Congress. The net result of activities was an .excess of expenditure over income of £1525, compared with a surplus of income of £400 at the end of 1967. The actions which Council have taken about this expected situation were reported to you by the President during the year, and I have been asked to de sc ribe them to you in great detail at the end of this report. This loss has been shown in the Balance Sheet, in which you see that the balance of our general items has been reduced to £6902. You will also see that we have rearranged the records of the benefactions which we have received at various times in the past, up till now these have each been maintained in separate funds until the money was spent, and then no further record was maintained. Council considered this system during the year; they concluded that the formation of a single Benefactors fund would enable the Society to use the money in a more efficient way in an inflationary economy, and at the same time enable us to maintain a permanent record of our appreciation of our benefactors gifts. We are particularly concerned with this last point, and each year we propose to remind members of the names of those who have contributed to this fund. I therefore now ask the Society to remember with gratitude the names of: N. Cheesman, George H. Pethybridge, Mrs. E. M. Robinson in memory of E. K. Robinson, Arthur A. Pearson, Miss Guilelma Lister, Walter C. Moore, who contributed to the Benefactors Fund. I am grateful to you, Sir, and to the members of Councilfor guidance and help during the year, and I acknowledge the unfailing co-operation I get from at least half of the Trustees. The auditors make no comments on the accounts other than those on the balance sheet, and I submit them for your approval. Report on Finances The general strategy of Society has been to avoid the irritation of frequent sma.Il changes in subscription - Council think most rnembe r s prefer a system of more determined steps from one stable state to another such steps look bigger but come at longer intervals. The last change was in 1961. At that time we had been exceeding our income for some years, and we rai sed the subscription froIn f 1. lOs to £2. lOs. with the idea of replacing some of these reserves for a year or two; we had no wish to set up a big capital, but just to provide enough to see us past any reasonable eInergencyover a one or two year period. We said that we would not expect to raise subscriptions again until we actually started to lose money. We knew that it would take a year to raise the subscription once the decision had been made, but we planned
4 to build up enough reserves to meet this contingency when it developed. The surplus dropped by the forecasted £500 a year till 1967. and if publications had remained the same it would have been zero in 1968 which I have j u s t reported to you . But a new factor came i nt o situation - the popul arity of tne Transactions led to a substantial back log of papers, and by 1968 it was appa rent that Transactions needed to be increased in size to cope with theIn in reasonable tiIne. We have steadily increased the trade price of the journal to cope w ith i n c r e a s e s in printing costs etc. during this period. It v:.as £3 in 61, £4. 62/63, £4.10. 64/65, £6. 66/68, £10. for 1969 (£5 per volume). But the Press have g iven us very clear estimates of the effects of rising costs on publishing over the next two years , and it is quite obvious that we could not expect both to increase the she of the journal and to meet these increased costs per page by trade revenue alone. Nor, in fact, would the Society wish to do so . Council felt qurte strongly that we would not wish our own copies of the journal to be very grossly subsidised through profits iroIn commercial sales. We therefore calculated the likely efforts of various cornbfna-. t ions of increase of trade price and subscriptions, and decided that the provident action would be to increalle the Trade price to £ 15 (1. e. £ 7 .10. per 3 part vo lurne ] from 1 Jan. 70 and simultaneously to increase rnernbers subscriptions to £4 per year. Working from Press estimates of rate of increase of printing costs etc. this should give us a surplus of income over expenditure for about a couple of years, then we can expect a couple of years on our reserves before corning to the Society again. Detailed figures on which these estimates are based have been discussed with Council - I should be glad to show them to any member who wishes to see them. Otherwise I can only conunendCouncils decision as a wise and provident way of dealing with the mass of uncertainties which surround us.
BRITISH MYCOLOGICAL SOCIETY SLIDE COLLECTION General Collection
Box A.
Agarics l , Agaricus campestris, 2. A. vi l laticu a, 3 . A. xanthodermus. 4. Amanita citr ina, 5. A. fu lva, 6. 7 . A. mu aca r -Ia , 8. A. phalloides , 9 . 10. A . rubescens. II, 12. A . vag i nat a , 13, 14 . Armillaria mellea. 15. Asterophora ly e o p e r d o id e s . 16 . A. pa ra aitfc a, 17. Bolbitius vitellinus. 18. Boletus badius, 19 . B. chrysenteron, 20. B. e Ieg ans, 21. B. granulatus, 22. B. luteu s, 23. B. parasitieus on Scleroderma. 24. B. purpureus . 25. B. reticulatus, 26. B. aatanu s, 27. B. Beaber. 28. Cantharellus c ib a.r iu s , 29. C litocybe eeruuata, 30. C. f'Iac c i da, 31. C. g eot ropa, 32. C. infundibuliformis. 33. C. nebu la r t s, 34. Collybia eockei, 35. C . ezyths-opue, 36. C. tesquorum, 37. Coprinus atramentarius. 38. C. comatus, 39. C . disseminatus, 40. C. lagopus, 41. C. mtc aceua, 42. C. ntveu.a, 43. C. picaceus, 44,45. C. plicatilis, 46. Cortinarius flexipes. 47. C. torvus, 48. C. trivialis,49. Craterellus co rnuccpiotde s, 50. Crepidotus rno Ilf s , 51, C. variabi Ha, 52. Cystoderma amianthina. 53. Galerina hypno rurn, 54. G. mutabilis, 55. Gornphidius glutinosus. 56. G. rutilis, 57,58. Gyrnnopflua junoninu•• 59. G. penetrans, 60. Hygrophorus cocc i n eu s, 61 . H. corucua, 62. H. pratenais. 63., H . psittacinus, 64. H. virgineus, 65 . H. vitellinull. 66, 67. Hypholoma fascicuIa r e , 68 . H. sublateritium. 69 . Laccaria amethystea, 70. L.proxima, 71. Lactarius cilicioidcs, 7 2 . L actarius quietus, 73. L. rufus, 74. L . torminosus. 75 . L . turpis. 7 6. Lepiota fr ies ii. 77. L . rhaeodes, 78. Lepiata nuda. 79. L.llaeva. 80. Macrocystidia c u curni s, 8 1. M arasmius rotuta, 82, Melanoleuea melaleuca. 8 3. My eena galopua , 84. M . gypsea, 85. M. inelinata, 86. M. polygramma. 87 .