NOTES ON BRISTOL FUNGI. 291 



district broken ap into deep gullies, whose sides are richly 

 clothed with vegetation, and a moist atmosphere thus engendered 

 and retained, and hence a copious mycology might reasonably be 

 expected. 



Bristol may not boast, perhaps, so numerous a list of the higher 

 tribes of Fungi as other localities which possess more extensive 

 tracts of forest, and which have been investigated by botanists 

 well read in the recent sub-divisions of the older species, such as 

 Epping Forest, or the extensive heaths and ancient forests of 

 Scotland, but it produces, nevertheless, a sufficient number of 

 rare and beautiful forms to render it very interesting to the 

 mycologist, especially to such as look further than for outward 

 beauty, and can admire minute structure and microscopic detail. 

 In illustration of the nature of the district around Bristol, we 

 may instance Nightingale Yalley, and the adjacent Down, and 

 Leigh "Wood, on the mountain-limestone, which afford some of 

 the best spots for the mycologist. The locality marked in 

 Swete's plan of the physical aspects of the district as '' the 

 lesser or Western Plateau," and its range, continuing on to 

 Clevedon, will reward the pedestrian with a charming view over 

 the Bristol Channel to the Monmouthshire hills on the north, 

 and glimpses of the rich plains of Somersetshire to the south. 

 Among its mycological treasures we may mention the beautiful 

 Agaricus fRussida) auratus, Fr., in Leigh "Wood ; several species 

 of the tribe Amanita^ the rare Agaricus Loveianus, B., which 

 grows parasitically. on Agaricus nelularis, Batsch., discovered 

 by Mr. H. 0. Stephens, in Leigh Wood ; the rare truffle, 

 Mydnangium carotcecolor ^ B., also found by the same botanist 

 growing in Leigh Wood, and resembling little bits of carrot, 

 hence easily recognised by its colour, as it lies among the ivy and 

 low herbage. Another rarity, Octaviania Stephensii, Tulasne, 

 so named in honour of its discoverer, may be found concealed 

 beneath the dead leaves of Tilia parvifolia in parts of Leigh 

 Wood, the only other locality known for it being the Lime 

 woods near Naish House, Wraxall, This truffle is remarkable for 



