HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



77 



upon bread-crumbs, but do uot sing for any length 

 of time, and then not loud j in fact they are not 

 worth anything if caged too soon. If kept in a shady 

 part of a room, like most birds so treated it will 

 sing by gaslight. 



It is not an unusual thing for canary hens to 

 build and lay eggs ; I have known two hens kept in 

 a cage and both birds build and lay eggs. 



As for the robin and canary mentioned by your 

 correspondent, I do not think there is the slightest 

 probability of the eggs being worth anything; it 

 would be indeed a valuable hybrid both for good 

 song and beautiful feather. One can imagine the 

 fine bill, large eye, and red-tinted breast of such a 

 rare mule ; but the habits of the two are so different 

 that I am afraid it is more than we shall ever get. 



Charles J. W. RuDD. 



CANDLE-SNUFF FUNGUS. 



THERE is no more curious or interesting object 

 to be found in a stroll round the garden than 

 the candle-snuff fungus. Scarcely a stake has stood 

 in the ground through the winter, perhaps as a sup- 

 port to raspberry canes, perhaps for one out of 

 fifty other purposes for which a stake has been 

 required, but it is garnished at its base with this 

 object. How often has the wanderer taken his 

 stroll to see what damage the frost has done, what 

 are the spring prospects, or to count upon summer 

 fruits, without seeing at the bottom of his old 

 stakes two or three or more jet-black, velvety out- 

 growths with whitened tips ? How often has he 

 passed them by, wondering for a moment what they 

 are, or how they came there, and then thinking no 

 more about them? Better confess to the sin at 

 once, and learn something, if it is to be learnt ; then 

 go and sin no more. Although so common in such 

 company, it must not be supposed that the stake is 

 essential to the fungus, although some kind of old 

 wood is. Not only stakes, but old stumps, or half- 

 buried old wood, is, in the majority of cases, when 

 left undisturbed long enough, the matrix, from 

 whence the candle-snuff fungus is developed. The 

 name by which this fungus is known to some people 

 is not inappropriate, in fact, it is as good as another 

 that we have heard proposed for it, the " stag's- 

 horn fungus." It is very often branched in a 

 similar manner to a stag's horn, but is sometimes 

 quite as simple and uninviting as a long candle- 

 snuff. By-the-by, the time seems to be approach- 

 ing when "candle-snuff" also will be a term 

 requiring definition. In these days of gaslight, 

 ozokerit candles, paraffine lamps, and other modern 

 inventions, the old tallow candles of our childhood, 

 with their long black " snuffs," are nearly forgotten, 

 and many of the " children of the period " have no 

 experience of "a long snuff." From little more 



than an inch to three or four inches in length, grow 

 these fungoid snuffs, sometimes in clusters, some- 

 times only two or three together, and sometimes 

 singly. It is very usual for them to be branched 

 in a forked manner once or twice, but occasionally 

 they are not branched at all. At the base they are 

 more or less rounded, and velvety black. Near the 



Fig. 4j. Xylaria hyjwxylon, Ccmidiophorous state. 



apex they are flattened, smooth, or nearly so, and 

 whitened, as if dusted with flour or chalk. This is 

 the appearance presented by its most common con- 

 dition, in which it does not bear its complete fruit. 

 The substance of the whole plant, except the ex- 

 treme tips, is tough and corky ; there is a mouldy 

 odour when fresh; it dries readily, shrivels very 

 little, and may be preserved for years. 



Fig. 46. Conidia of Xylaria hypoxylon. 



A few minutes will be well spent in examining 

 more closely this barren state, especially the white 

 powder of the tips. The cellular, corky, white 



