TOPOGRAPHICAL BOTANY OF SCOTLAND 177 



NORTH HIGHLANDS. 105, West Ross (Ross and Cromarty draining 

 to Atlantic); 106, East Ross (Ross and Cromarty draining to 

 North Sea); 107, East Sutherland (draining to east); 108, 

 West Sutherland (rest of county, draining to north and west) ; 

 109, Caithness. 



NORTH ISLES. 110, Hebrides (west of the Minch) and St. Kilda ; 

 iii, Orkneys; 112, Shetland. 



(To be continued.') 



FUNGI GATHERED IN THE PARISH OF 

 FORDOUN, KINCARDINESHIRE. 



By JOHN MASON. 



SOME of the leathery or corky species of fungi that grow on 

 dead wood are perennial ; but all those stalked forms which 

 we call mushrooms and toadstools are annuals. They are 

 propagated by minute seeds termed spores, and begin to 

 appear in August or, in favourable seasons, earlier ; their 

 number greatly increases in September and October ; they 

 are much less numerous in November, and by the end of 

 that month most of them are usually killed off by frost. 

 Fungi grow in a great variety of situations : some species 

 are to be looked for in old pastures, others on animal 

 excrements, but it is in woods that they most abound. The 

 species included in the following list all belong to the 

 Basidiomycetes, except the last five, which are Ascomycetes. 

 The total number of British species belonging to these two 

 great orders is said to be upwards of three thousand two 

 hundred and fifty. 



BASIDIOMYCETES. 



AGARICINE.E. 



Amanita aspersa, Fr. Occasionally seen. Cap warty. 



A. muscaria, Fr. This tall, handsome fungus, the " splendid chief 



of the agaricoid tribe," is very poisonous. 

 A. ntbescens, Fr. Among grass. Turns red when bruised. 

 A. sfrobiliformis, Vitt. Under trees. Cap very warty. 

 Amanitopsis vaginata, Roze. A tall and elegant toadstool. 



55 E 



