280 FUNGI. 



The Crucible Bird's nest (C. vulgare, Plate XIX., Jig. 

 11) partakes of the form of the vessel from which it is 

 named ; not tapering to the base as its two cousins do. 



There is a long narrow field near Kemberton, in Shrop- 

 shire, with lines of trees on either hand. It looks like a 

 grand approach to some noble mansion ; but it leads no- 

 where, and has no attraction beyond its own beauty ; 

 pasture fields, or arable fields are around it ; but it is the 

 most attractive nook amongst them all. Here the wood 

 anemones quiver their pale heads in hundreds ; prim- 

 roses peep from under the hedges ; and violets nestle 

 about the tree roots. Here mosses flourish in endless 

 variety, sheltered from the midsummer glare by tall 

 grasses, and spreading ferns. And here, when the grasses 

 are withered and the ferns are dead, clusters of Crucible 

 bird's nests spring from the decaying stems, closely guard- 

 ing their fruitful eggs until the moment when the cord 

 is bid to jerk, and the fungus seed mingles with the fresh 

 leaf mould, and prepares to bide its time till the spring 

 flowers and summer grasses have had their turn, and the 

 little crucibles will be due a^ain. 



A very scarce fungus belonging to this order re- 

 warded my search in Yorkshire, one winters day. Pass- 

 ing the Kichmond race-course, the main-road led through 

 a dark wood ; here I left the public path, and betook 

 myself to the wood, searching for mosses and fungi. 

 While examining the ground under some fir trees for 

 varieties of the fork-moss family, I saw some orange 

 bodies, like beads, about the size of rape-seed. These I 

 took, concluding them to be fungi. The next post 

 earned them to Bath ; and in a day or two I received a 



