30 Rhodora [FEBRUARY 
rings on the shores of Gilmore Pond were sufficiently clear to demon- 
strate that this annular mode of growth was not merely a theory, but a 
distinct tendency. 
In other localities, where I have collected Lycopodium inundatum, 
it grew in peat moss, and there no rings were observed. This, how- 
ever, is not surprising. The surface of a peat bog, covered with under- 
shrubs and tussocks would offer no such opportunity for regular develop- 
ment as an open sandy beach. It is hoped that persons, who find 
Lycopodium inundatum during coming seasons, will report any similar 
ring formations which they may observe in other localities. 
One more circumstance of interest may be mentioned regarding 
the rings on Gilmore Pond, and that is that they were never quite 
circular, but when of regular growth at all, were always broadly ellip- 
tical. Furthermore, the ellipses were in nearly all cases so situated 
that their longest axes were parallel with the margin of the pond. 
This relation appeared to obtain at different places upon the curved 
shore and be quite independent of the points of the compass. 'The 
most natural inference is that the Lycopodium, in the manner of many 
other littoral plants, tends rather to develop a/ong the shore in a region 
of tolerably uniform moisture, than toward or from the water, which 
would bring it into wetter or drier ground. It is true, the rings were 
found at very different distances from the water, varying, indeed, from 
six to thirty meters. . 
[Since the above was in type, we have received from the publishers (Messrs. 
Ginn & Co.) Prof. W. J. Beal’s attractive little volume, Seed Dispersal. On page 5 
of this work — which is popular in style, well arranged, and excellently illustrated 
Prof, Beal describes some “ fairy-rings " formed by Monarda didyma, the bee-balm, 
and refers to similar tendencies toward annular development in several other flower- 
ing plants. — Ep. ] 
NOTES ON CALOSTOMA. 
HoLLis WEBSTER. 
A RATHER common, though unfamiliar fungus of our woods, one 
that is sure to excite the curiosity of anybody who happens on it for 
the first time, is the slimy red puff-ball, Calostoma cinnabarinum Desv. 
It grows by brooks and by paths where the ground is springy, appear- 
ing first as a pale brownish yellow gelatinous lump, from which the 
