roots of any trees except oak ; deuse tufts being squeezed tightly up between their guarls and the soil, so 

 that only the strongest and most vigorous heads obtain room for the expansion of their hats, wliich are 

 flapped and bent in the struggle for place and precedence. The fibre which stuffs the stems is very 

 beautiful, like spun-glass or floss-silk, v.\\en spHt longitudinally. We have counted nearly fifty Agarics 

 composing one group, compressed together, and all but confluent into one stem at the base ; of course 

 many of these were very small. In the growth of most plants, if the fully-developed members of a family 

 were removed, the smaller would succeed to their place ; but in Agarics it is not so — all appear to be the 

 consequence of one start in production, and those stunted at the beginning remain so after the strong ones 

 have been removed. "\Mien favourable circumstances bring forward a second tuft from the original base, 

 none of the prior crop help to compose it — they disappear entirely, to be entirely replaced after a pause. 



