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had never appeared there before, and he (Dr. Bull) knew they had never been 

 there since. He did not know of the mole-run theory of explanation at 

 that time, and could only say that there certainly were no evident traces of 

 the mole there. The result of his observations, so far as they had gone, he 

 must say were opposed to the mole theory as a general explanation. He knew 

 his friend Mr. Lees was a careful observer in the field, aud he had been, and 

 was still, prepared to admit that the moles might account for some "Fairy- 

 rings," He would say that rings of the great puff -ball, Ltjcoperdon giiian- 

 teu.ni, had seemed to him most favourable to the theory of mole formation, 

 and certainly the fact noticed by Mr. Harrison, that different funguses 

 occasionally succeeded each other iu the same ring, showed that for some cause 

 or other, the ground in the ring was specially adapted to their growth. He 

 thought, however, that facts were in-esistibly strong against the theory on 

 the side of the Moles, as well as that of the Funguses. As a general rule 

 the mole runs were not circuitous, indeed it was quite 'the exception when 

 they took the regular form of an arc of a circle. They were irregular, angular, 

 zig-zag, or more or less straight, and he had found a difficulty last spring when 

 he had examined a good many fields with numerous fresh runs in them in 

 finding any that could have formed the regular site of a " Fairy-ring." He 

 thought Mr. Lees had misunderstood M. St. Hilaire and other authors on the 

 subject. The exact circular rings with communicating passages they described, 

 were found immediately around the nest, and were covered by the large mole- 

 heap which protected it. For one superficial mole run that formed the arc of 

 a circle there were certainly twenty that were irregular in shape. All of them 

 were made precisely in the same way, and aU of them would therefore offer 

 the same faoihties for the growth of Fungus sporules. But Funguses did not 

 follow in the irregular riins, and to beUeve the mole-theory of the formation of 

 " Faky-rings," we must believe that the Funguses have the power to select only 

 the cu'cular runs. Then again, genei'.al observation showed, as every one must 

 admit, that certain Funguses always gi-ew in a scattered form, and certain others 

 .always grew in Fairy-rings, and this in the very midst of mole heaps and mole 

 occupied fields. For instance, to give a couple of examples on each side, the 

 common mushroom. Ay. campestris, and the Parasol fungus, Ayarlcus iirocerus, 

 which so commonly grow in the fields and pastures, grew in an isolated or 

 slightly clustered groups, whilst the large field or Horse Mushroom, Agaricus 

 arvensis, and the Champignon, Marasmius oreades, equally general with the 

 last, always grew in rings. If you suppose the two fu-st as not adapted to 

 grow in a circular form, or not disposed to take growth in mole-runs, as might 

 be argued. Surely those that do so, the Agaricus arvensis for example, if it 

 takes its form of growth from mole tracks, ought most frequently to be found 

 growing in the irregular lines which these mole tracks most commonly take, 

 and this we know is not the case. Then with regard to Marasmius oreades, the 

 "Fairy ring" which grow almost on every lawn in the county. It was really 

 trifling with common sense to say that they only grew upon circular mole nms, 



