Ill 



observed that the growth of fuugi follows the action of fire on wood and 

 earth. The Rev. Mr. Berkeley tells us in his introduction to " Crytpogamic 

 Botany " {p. 292) that " in Germany Morels affect more especially these places 

 where wood has been burnt, and the collection was so lucrative as to induce 

 the peasantry to destroy the fiire>:ts by tii-e with a view to favour their growth ; 

 a practice which was a^ length checked by the enacting of .special laws." In 

 his introduction to "The Outlines of Fuiigology " we are also informed that 

 " a certain Polyporus used for food in Italy is raised on hazle stumps by 

 simply charring them partially and then supplying them with a proper 

 cpiantity of water." In M. Rounigufere's work ( " Cryptogamie Illus- 

 tr^e") already referred to, we are informed that "Captain Durriew, 

 when crossing some plains in Algeria which had lately been burnt by 

 the Arabs during the war in that country, was able to collect a great 

 number of fungi upon grass stubble partly consumed, and upon wood the 

 bark of which had be^n charred by fire." The same author also says 

 that large species of fungi are found on charcoal beds in the forests of 

 France. Those who have been in the habit of searching the woods of 

 Shropshire and Herefordshire for fungi could not have failed to observe 

 many corresionding facts. These counties supply large quantities of timber 

 for building, and the practice of landowners of falling it at certain periods, 

 when charcoal is usually made, ensures a succession of these beds of various 

 ages. It is a matter of suriwise that any living organisms should find a 

 pabulum after the ordeal of fire which these spots imdergo ; yet it is a fact 

 that very shortly after their being used a growth of fimgi malces its 

 appearance, while yet the the surface consists of nothing more than loose 

 fragments of charcoal several inches in depth. Some conditions are produced 

 highly favourable to the growth of Mycelium arising from spores which 

 have either escaped the action of the fire or been conveyed by the wind or 

 animals and deposited iu their place of growth. I may here mention a fact 

 that came under my own observation in the early part of this year, which 

 tends to show that at least one species of lichen may take possession of a 

 similar habitat. While in North Wales in the month of April I saw on the 

 side of a public road a space of burnt ground some 12 feet in circumference, 

 probably the recent encampment of gypsies, nearly the whole surface of 

 which was covered by a beautiful coUema, its thallus thickly strewn with 

 dark brown apothecia, the finest giowth of the kind I ever witnessed. An 

 interesting question naturally occurs here which we cannot pass over without 

 a remark, namely, how are these ijhenomena to be accounted for ? Why 

 should there exist this singular sequence of fire and fungi ? The most 

 probable explanation — the one most consonant with oiu- knowledge of vege- 

 table growth — is that the chemical constituents of the ground become so 

 altered as to supply the ingredients most appropriate to the sustenance of 

 fungi. I must content myself with bringing before your notice one fact only 

 in confirmation of this view. Professor Church has given us in the "Journal 



