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act, without which indeed, the idea of dances in the moonlight, made evident 



when the sua rose, would have been unsustainable. 



Shakspere says : — 



"And nightly, meadow fairies, look you, sing. 

 Like to the garter's compass, in a ring. 

 The expression that it bears, green let it be, 

 More fertile fresh than all the field to see." 



— Merry Wives of Windsor. 



But we must not follow the poets in this matter, but must deal with the facts 



as we find them. That rings do appear one year where they were not observed 



before, we have the testimony of our men confirming our own observations. 



We have also the examples of rings within view of our present study which have 



not increased in size for the last seven years, as also of many which have never 



been tenanted by fungi Still, we have repeatedly seen that whatever tended to 



kill the grass might be followed by fungi of one sort or another. Thus the spots 



where grass has been killed by cow dropping3 will often produce the common 



mushroom ; places where the turf has been destroyed by dressings of salt, guano, 



superphosphate, or any highly stimulating manure, will often be afterwards 



occupied by mushrooms, puffballs, or others of the family ; and that different 



species so coming may form rings on the centrifugal theory we are not prepared 



to deny, though we confess to being in possession of but little evidence in 



support of the theory, and Mr. Lees, as well as previous writers, have confessed 



to no little difficulty in the matter. Indeed, Mr. Lees has started a notion 



altogether novel, which, as he looks upon the mole as the author of the so-called 



Fairy rings, has been dignified as the " molar " theory, of which the description 



from the paper already cited we now quote in his own words : — 



" Now, having paid close attention to these appearances for many years, 

 and not merely looked to the fungus growing in the circle, but to the circle 

 itself, this close observation tells me that in a great majority of cases the 

 original disturbance of the soil in a circular or semicircular form is due to 

 that little mining animal, the mole (Talpa Europcea). His gyrations close under 

 the surface of the ground are very remarkable. In making his runs he disturbs 

 the roots of the grass, and the gTass itself withers and dies in the round that 

 he has made. This offers a pabulum to the wandering sporules of Fungi not to 

 be neglected, and they seize upon these rounds accordingly, and once there 

 make an occupation of the ground for as long a time as favourable circum- 

 stances allow, and then fly on elsewhere. For an uncertain time their occupation 

 increases the size of the ring, but they do not originally form it. The ring is 

 increased too, not by the sporules of the plant scattered about, but by the 

 perennial underground mycelium, which slowly spreads until it is killed by 

 meteorological causes, or like other plants, dies out from exhausted vitality." 



This author gives diagrams of mole tracks in support of his theory, but the 

 following objections to Ms view of the matter appear to us insuperable : — 1st. 

 Fairy rings may constantly be seen where the mole has never been noticed, as 



