RKPORT ON THE PKNNATULIDA. 227 



to have some special liking. It need hardly he jwinted out that this 

 furnishes the strongest possible confirmation of the theory we had been 

 led to frame on purely independent grounds. 



Two points still require explanation. Firstly, why, if the fish bite 

 off the tops and swallow them as food, do they not devour the whole 

 of the rachis as well '? Secondly, why do the fish eat the tops off 

 Viriiularia and leave untouched the allied genera, Fennatiila and 

 FuniculiiKi, which are found growing alongside it, and of which the 

 latter, at all events, would appear to be far more tempting as food, 

 owing to the much greater bulk of fleshy substance it affords, and the 

 much smaller thickness of its stem in the upper part. If it be 

 supposed that the calcareous matter of the stem is the real attraction 

 lo the fish, it is difficult to understand why Fennatula, with its 

 innumerable calcareous spicules, is allowed to escape. 



We shall return to both these points further on. 



(To be continued.) 



BOTANICAL RAMBLES IN WARWICK SHIEE. 



In the latter part of August the eminent fuugologist Dr. M. C. 

 Cooke paid a vij.it to Warwickshire, and as I had the pleasure of 

 accompanying him to Crackley Wood and Siitton Park during his 

 stay here, it may be interesting to some of the readers of the "Midland 

 Naturalist " if I give a short account of our finds. The season was 

 far from propitious from a Fungus point of view —the preceding dry 

 weather having parched up the ground, so that although we found a 

 few good things, they were only few, and occurred as solitary indi- 

 viduals in most cases. 



Our first visit was to Crackley Wood, near Keuilworth, a locality 

 that has been already worked and almost to exhaustion by the late 

 Mrs. Eussell. This lady not only recorded a long list of fungi from 

 the district around Keuilworth, but also added to the value of her 

 work by giving to the British Museum her beautiful illustrations of 

 every species and variety she collected. 



Our first &nd wsis Ainaiiita i>halhndes, a local plant in the county. 

 This we noticed on the grassy waysides outside the wood. 



In the wood we noticed Clitocijbe laccatus, Collyhia dryophilus, 

 Collybia fusijies, which, my learned friend informed me was esculent, 

 but which certainly does not look tempting. Here and there among 

 the grass were solitary specimens of the pretty little Mycena yalopus, 

 and Lactaiius subdulcis, and the very poisonous Liberty Cap Psilocybe 

 semilanceatu)!, and upon the fallen branches scattered about the wood, 

 Grandinia i/ranulosa, Trirhodermd viride, Corticium Sainbuci, and Bul- 

 gaiia surcoidex. In addition to these we found a solitary specimen of 

 Boletus .iubtoiuento-:us, in which the upper portions or caps of two indi- 

 viduals had become united, thus giving it the appearance of a Boletus 

 with two stems. 



Our most interesting finds, however, were liussula rosacea, recorded 

 doubtfully by Mrs. Eussell ; FoUjponis nidulans, a very rare species, 

 and new as a record for Warwickshire; and Cliloo/he catinus. first 



