340 THE JOURNAL OF BOTANY 



fait accomjyli. The flesh of fhese sheep when taken directly from 

 their feeding-ground is said to be rather " fishy " ; but if fed on 

 grass for a few weeks before being killed the meat is as tender and 

 succulent as that of sheep fed in the usual way. These practices 

 have gone on from time immemorial. 



That deer come down to eat sea-weed on the tide-range in the 

 northern parts of Scotland is often recorded, the weed being again 

 useful as a source of salt ; and there can be no doubt that rabbits 

 when pressed for want of food similarly resort to sea- weed feeding. 

 Last winter we had three weeks of a very severe snow-storm, when 

 the grass was covered with from a few inches to two or three feet of 

 snow. There are three islands without cultivation on which rabbits 

 are abundant. The lighthouse keeper on Copinsay, close to these 

 islands, told me that he watched the rabbits through a field-glass 

 come down to the beach every da}^ in considerable numbers to feed on 

 the sea- weed. Where the rabbit-links are in close proximity to cul- 

 tivated land, a portion of them only go to feed on sea-weed. During 

 a snow-storm one can see the tracks of some going to the shore, and 

 others going to the nearest turnip-field. Here they find ridges where 

 the tops of a few turnips are still exposed ; these they reach by 

 scraping off the snow, and so keep themselves alive. For every six 

 tracks I saw towards the shore there were twenty towards the turnips. 

 A strange almost incredible story is involved in this shore-feeding. 

 If you ask a farmer in possession of a rabbit-links when is the best 

 time for shooting them, he invariably answers, — when the tide is 

 ebbing. The verification of this fact can be realized almost any day. 

 On one occasion I crossed a links with a gun after midday, and there 

 was not a rabbit to be seen ; the tide was full. Three hours after I 

 returned over the same ground, when large numbers were out of their 

 warrens. No one can explain it on any feasible supposition but that 

 it is an inherited instinct from the time when all rabbits were 

 forced during snow-storms and scarcity of food to feed on sea-weeds. 



NEW OR NOTEWORTHY FUNGI.— Part VI. 

 By W. B. Grove, M.A. 



(Concluded from p. 321.) 

 (Plate 550.) 



293. Myxosporium Polygoni, sp. n. 



Acervulis sparsis, subepidermicis, convexo-oblongis, ca. 500 n diam., 

 nigrescentibus, epidermidem multifarie rumpentibus. Conidiis mag- 

 nis, ovoideo-oblongis, crasse tunicatis, granulosissimis, saepe guttula 

 magna subcentrali prseditis, apice late rotundatis, basi subapiculatis, 

 achrosis, 20-25 X 7-10 ju vel etiam 30 p longis, sporophoris oblongis, 

 irregularibus, subinde curvatis, obtusissimis, 20-24 x 3-5 fx suffultis, 

 (Tab. 550. f. 12.) 



Hah. in caulibus Polygoni cvsjiidati aridis, in Horto Bota^iico, 

 Birmingham, Martio, socia Tlwma ancipite var. Polygoni. 



