516 



WILD FLOWEKS OF NOVEMBER. 



nical acumen, in Gopsal Park, not far from his resi- 

 dence at Twycross, Leicestershire. In the deep shade 

 lay enormous imbricated masses of Potyporus giganteus 

 like the crested heads of dragons, every trunk was 

 densely fringed with bright coloured dewy masses of 

 buff or purple Thelephorce, and the black Bulgaria 

 inquinans covered with its glue-like balls, the bark of 

 those trees not entirely fallen off, as if the timber 

 which they covered had been charred by the sack and 

 fury of some bellicose outrage. 



But the mycologist at his own free will may traverse 

 more open and diversified scenery, where by the brook 

 side some tottering old willow bears a crop of golden 

 agarics or sweet-scented polypori ; and thus the prac- 

 tical study of these curious structures, where some- 

 thing new is almost certainly to be found, may be 

 strongly recommended to the young naturalist, as 

 well observed by Dr. BADHAM, " not only for the 

 beauty of the objects he is sure to come upon," but 

 because " whether at home or abroad, it brings the 

 wanderer out of beaten paths, to fall in with many 

 striking views which he would not otherwise have 

 explored." 



