FUNGI. 299 



or on twigs lying on the ground, rewarded me for weed- 

 ing a friend's fernery in Kent. The pretty fungus was 

 nestling beneath the ferns in great numbers, its cups 

 wide spread, about half an inch in circumference, in tex- 

 ture waxy, and fringed round the edge and underneath 

 with brown hairs. The tiny white Peziza (P. Virginia) 

 is found in quantities parasitic on dead twigs and moss ; 

 its cups are only the size of a pin's head, and its stem is 

 short and thread like. The banks of Loch Lomond 

 furnished me with a beautiful claret Peziza ; no descrip- 

 tion can depict the extreme depth and richness of its 

 colouring. It grew on the bare ground {Plate XX. 



fig- 6). 



The green Peziza (P. vermiformis, Plate XX., fig. 4) 

 grew on old willow stumps, in a pretty field hard by a 

 stream near Bath. It is a rare species. The bright 

 yellow cups of the tiny P. Claro-flavum were found 

 on a decaying log in Wiltshire (Plate XX., Jig. 7). The 

 same neighbourhood furnished the rusty black Peziza 

 (P. atro-fusca, Jig. 8) and the red-brown shields of the 

 hairy Peziza (P. hirta, Jig. 10). Last autumn, rain fell 

 day by day, and as we looked forth on the dripping 

 world, we longed that the rain would cease, if only to 

 let us look upon the rich Kentish landscape ; but the 

 rain would not cease. Then, as if to afford us entertain- 

 ment, brown specks appeared on the walk immediately 

 underneath the windows, they enlarged into head-like 

 bodies, these opened and showed dingy cups, which 

 spread and spread till they might have furnished plates 

 for a dolls dinner party. When we came out again the 



