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tion as they \rere last year in reference to the diacussion as to the cause of their 

 formation. There had been no "Fau'y rings" all through the summer, and 

 it had been impossible therefore to make any practical observations upon them. 

 His friend, Mr. Lees, had brought the subject before the club with great ability, 

 as the result of many years' practical work in the field, and his views therefore 

 were net lightly to be set aside. Something more was wanted than superficial 

 observation or closet speculation. His facts and his diagrams were not to be 

 called in question, although his intepretation of them might fairly be disputed. 



He had been observing "fairy rings" himself for the last three years 

 with some care, and he confessed that he did not think the problem of their mode 

 of formation one by any means easy to solve. He had learnt much with re- 

 ference to them, and he thought that much more might still be learnt by carefully 

 watching them. 



Mr. Harrison's observation of a mole track crossing a ring was very in- 

 teresting. The mole himself made the experiment, and yet the funguses so far 

 refused to follow him. 



The rings formed by different funguses varied very much from each 

 other, not only as to size, but in other particulars, and he thought he could 

 trace in these variations the origin of some of the different theories of theu' 

 formation. For example, the rings of the Agaricua gambosas, coming as they 

 did unmediately after the thunder-storms at the end of April, and present- 

 ing the appearance of a burnt surface through the summer, might readily give 

 rise to the electrical theory of their formation, which the original Dr. Darwin, 

 very strongly maintained. He has seen some rings sometimes during the 

 summer which Ag, gamhosus had occupied in spring and the appearance was 

 exactly as if they had been made with a hot iron stamped upon the grass. Then 

 again, if you examined carefully the usual growth of Marasmiug orecules, it was 

 first a little group of funguses, then a sm"all and perfect ring, gradually grow- 

 ing larger year by year, and less perfect too, as might be expected, from some 

 partial failure, and lasting for many years. This presented natui-ally the cen- 

 trifugal theory, that is, the origin from a single plant, each year exhausting the 

 soil, and growing, therefore, the next year on the fresh ground at the outer 

 margin. He thought it most probable that the different funguses which took 

 this circular form of growth, did so in different ways and fashions, and by care- 

 fully observing these differences some general rules might, perhaps, be ob- 

 tained. He believed it was one general rule that all " Fairy rings " when once 

 formed, if they continued to appear, increased in size year by year. He said 

 when once formed, because he did not himself believe altogether in the com- 

 monly-accepted centrifugal theory. His observations had convinced him that 

 "Fairy rings" were often of considerable size on their first appearance. For 

 example, a ring of the Agaricus geotrupus 27 feet in diameter had appeared 

 on a well-tended lawn at Breinton three years since, embracing an apple-tree 

 within the circle. The large funguses could not fail to be observed. They 

 were a source of annoyance to the owner, and he stated positively that they 



