62 AMONGST HE GRASS. 
SECTION I, SOLITARY. 
lirst and foremost is the king of all our Clavarias, C. pistillarte 
(fig. 1.), if size constitutes any claim to kingly dignity; and having 
received from High Wycombe a native specimen of this some- 
what rare species,* its right to a first place is indisputable. 
Fig. 1. In size this ‘club’ exceeds our 
figure, for it will attain a height of 
more than six inches, and a thickness 
of nearly an inch at the thickest part ; 
externally it is smooth everywhere, 
and though at first of a tawny colour 
becomes browner by age. Internally 
it is white and fleshy. This and the 
four succeeding species always grow 
singly and distinct, and not in tufts, 
as those of our second group. 
A very rare species (C. Ardenia) 
has been found in the southern 
counties, in which the clubs are much 
more slender and attenuated, always 
of a redder brown or rust colour, and 
with the clubs hollow. 
Almost equally rare is a twisted 
and contorted species ((. contorta), of 
a dirty white colour, which is oc- 
casionally found bursting through 
the bark of fallen branches. Indeed 
both (. Ardenia and C. contorta differ from the majority of their 
fellows in selecting fallen branches on which to vegetate. 
A smaller species (C. juncea), with slender thread-like hollow 
clubs is sometimes abundant in certain localities amongst dead 
leaves in woods. Thestem is hollow, and at first pale externally, 
becoming ultimately of a reddish-brown. 
* It was gathered in 1865 in Hearnton Wood, West Wycombe; and last 
year in the Booker Woods.—Ep. 
