sudden and curiously rai^id evolvement of the plant it contains^ wliich attains its full, mature proportions 

 almost at once ; the same unbearably foetid effluvium escapes from the deHquescing contents of the net-work, 

 but in the deservedly, if vulgarly, named " Stink Horn," the latticed net instead of being sessile like the 

 Clathrus, is elevated on a tall stem, resembling an extinguisher on a candle. 



A botanist of considerable eminence where phenogamous plants were concerned, occasioned us some 

 loss of time a few years ago, in the search for Clathrus Cancellatus of wliich he assured us a pale form 

 grew near Cray ; but his fungus was in fact Geaster CoUformu which has a multifid coriaceous outer coat, 

 and the inner peridium supported on several stems, instead of a single peduncle. We mention this to guard 

 others from a similar error because it was that of a really intelligent observer, and might occur again 

 although the Geaster in question is very rare. It proves how little even a good Botanist thought Mycology 

 within his scope. Poor Mj'cology !* 



On looking out Glatlu-us in most English works the student may be perplexed by finding liimself 

 referred to some minute but exquisitely beautiful funguses, now placed under the heads Stemonitis, Arcyria, 

 or Trichia, but which Linnaeus called Clathrus, wliich means a lattice, from their net-like capiUitium ; as 

 these elegant little things however require a lens to display their lattice-work, there can be no confusion 

 between them, and Clathrus cancellatus properly so called. For the way in wliich a subject may be inge- 

 niously confused, and an inquirer misled we refer the Mycologist to E.ees' Encyclopedia, article Clathrus. 



And now a question suggests itself, why have certain funguses so unpleasant a scent ? but it is not 

 peculiar to them alone ; the splendid Arum Bracuncnlus has exactly a similar mal-odour ; common flies 

 mistake it for carrion, and many a person passing the hedge-bank on which Phallus impudicus is growing, 

 affirms that a dead dog or sheep is hidden in the weeds below, little suspecting the truth, that to the fungus 

 only the nuisance must be ascribed. 



* We must also warn against mistaking any of these balls, the undeveloped members of Phalloidea, for the 

 tubers of the truffle, which has been clone. 



