502 WILD TLOWEBS OF 



Mushrooms ; the LicJienes or Lichens ; and the Algce 

 or Seaweeds. The Equisetacece or Horsetails, formerly 

 considered as cryptogamous, are now, according to 

 BEOGNIAET'S observations, to be considered as allied 

 in their fructification to the fir tribe ; and Dr. LTJSTD- 

 LET, in locating them in juxta-position with the latter 

 in his Natural System, remarks, that " we must admit 

 that Equisetacese are more like flowering plants than 

 flowerless plants ; and it seems to be most advisable 

 to consider them a degeneration of Conifera, to which 

 they have so much resemblance, rather than a race in 

 affinity with Ferns, with which they have really no 

 resemblance." The "Wood Horsetail has been previ- 

 ously referred to, nor is the Great Water Horsetail 

 much inferior to it in beauty, the latter often covering 

 marshy spots with a dense fir-like though compara- 

 tively dwarf vegetation. jEquisetum limosum is com- 

 mon in ponds, which it sometimes fills with its green 

 upright pipes, surmounted by their black catkins. 

 The Corn Horsetail (Equisetum arvense) shows its 

 brown fertile frond and catkins early in the spring, 

 the green much branched sterile plants appearing at a 

 later period. 



I purpose, in this chapter, to dwell only upon the 

 curious and diversified structures denominated Fungi, 

 which now meet the observant eye in almost every 

 direction, but especially in the dark walks of the neg- 

 lected shrubbery, the thick wood, the old fir grove, or 

 even in open pastures, where they are often conspi- 

 cuous at a considerable distance in the outline of 

 those remarkable circles and segments commonly 

 called "fairy rings," from an ancient superstition that 

 they were caused by fairies dancing within these 



