126 The Field Naturalist's Quarterly May 



down the length of the tube. They were formerly known 

 as Roestelia lacerata, and have been found from June to 

 August on hawthorn and pear. But they would now be 

 referred to as the aecidious condition of Gymnosporangium 

 clavariceforme, since the alternating generations have been 

 worked out. Thus the first portion of the life cycle pro- 

 duced by the germinating teleutospore produces the ascidio- 

 spores of the hawthorn and pear, and the secidiospores in 

 their turn produce the teleutospores on the juniper. 



This large group of parasitic fungi must now be left, as 

 we are sure that every field worker must know well the rust 

 on the leaves and culms of our cereals ; but it is interesting 

 to note that although the microscope reveals no characters 

 which will separate some of these rusts, still so fastidious 

 have some of them become that they will flourish on only 

 one particular host plant. 



I will now conclude this peep at spring fungi with a ref- 

 erence to the St George's mushroom {Tricholoma gamhosiim), 

 which, true to its English name, I have found on the 23rd 

 of April ; but it also flourishes throughout May and early 

 June. It grows in rings on our pastures, and has the 

 surface of the pileus whitish tan. The stem is solid and 

 white, and the gills are whitish with a curve near their 

 attachment to the stem ; the spores are white, and the 

 whole plant smells strongly of new meal. It is most ex- 

 cellent eating, but I cannot tell why the rustic population 

 should term it a mushroom, as all the Agarics have purple 

 spores which ultimately turn the gills a dark colour : the 

 gills, too, are free from the stem, and the stem is encircled 

 by a large ring. 



Marsh Botany in Spring. 



By William A. Dutt. 



Spring comes slowly to the marshlands. While the roadsides 

 and field-banks of the uplands are yellow with primroses, the 

 gorse is in full glory of bloom on the heathlands, and the 



