178 Fungus Folk- Lore. [Sess. 



cone inversely situated to the other, the top of which is the 

 green circle." Another remarkable theory by a writer, quoted 

 in Captain Brown's notes to White's ' Selborne,' attributed 

 these rings to the droppings of starlings, which, when in large 

 flights, frequently alight on the ground in circles, and are some- 

 times known to sit a considerable time in these annvilar con- 

 gregations. It was also thought that such circles were caused 

 by the effects of electricity, and for this belief the withered part 

 of the grass within the circles may have given foundation. 

 Priestley was a strong advocate of the electric theory, and was 

 supported by many eminent men of his time. 



" So from the clouds the playful lightning wings, 

 Elves the firm oak or prints the fairy rings," 



says Dr Darwin, and appends a note that " flashes of lightning, 

 attracted by the moister part of grassy plains, are the actual 

 cause of fairy rings." Archteologists suggested that they might 

 be the remains of circles formed by the ancient inhabitants of 

 Britain in the celebration of their sports or the worship of their 

 deities. Naturalists of that period came to the conclusion 

 that the rings were caused by the underground workings of 

 insects. In the ' Transactions of the Woolhope Club,' a few- 

 years ago, a writer tries to prove that they are the result of the 

 underground workings of moles; and in the same 'Transactions' 

 for 1870, Professor Buckman lays down the axiom that " any- 

 thing which may tend to kill a given area of grass may be the 

 beginning of a fairy ring." Several kinds of fungi form rings, 

 but the meadow rings are almost invariably formed by the 

 species Marasmius oreades, commonly known in England by 

 the name of Champignon or Scotch bonnets. St George's 

 mushroom, which sometimes forms rings, is called Champeron 

 in Berkshire and Champilion in Cheshire — both names ap- 

 parently corrupted from the French. This mushroom is 

 believed to be a special gift from St George — a belief no doubt 

 arising from its making its appearance about the time fixed for 

 the celebration of that saint. Bluet or Blewit, the pojiular 

 name of Agaricus personatus, has puzzled etymologists. It is 

 supposed to be a corruption of blue hat, but why it should be 

 called so when its stem only is blue, raises a difficulty. The 

 Boletus is the toadstool 'par excellence of the English, who call 



