MYCOLOGICAL BULLETIN 



No. 27 



Ni 



//'. A. Kcllcniian, Ph. D., Ohio State University 



Columbus, Oliio, February 1, 1905 



GARDEN 



Wh \T Makes the Fairy-ring? — Several mushrooms are arranged in 



circles, the so-called Fairy-ring. Explaining this matter in connection with 

 the accoimt of the common Fairy-ring Alushroom, Ma-ras'-nii-us o-re'-a-des, 

 Professor Atkinson says : "Having started at a given spot the mycelium 

 consumes the food material in the soil suitable for it, and the plants for 

 the first year appear in a group. In the center of this spot the mycelium, 

 having consum.ed all the available food, probably dies after producing the 

 crop of mushrooms. But around the edge of the spot the mycelium or 

 spawn still exists, and at the beginning of the ne.xt season it starts into 

 growth and feeds on the available food in a zone surrounding the spot 

 where it grew the previous year. Phis second year, then, the plants 

 appear in a small ring. So in succeeding years it advances outward, the 

 ring each \'ear becoming larger. Where the plants appear onl}' in the arc 

 of a circle, something has liappened to check or destroy the mycelium in 

 the remaining arc of the circle. 



It has been noted by several observers that the grass in the ring 

 occupied by the mushrooms is often gr,.'ener than that adjoining, 'ihis is 

 perhaps due to some stimulus exerted by the mycelium which may in some 

 way make certain foods available tor the grass which gives additional 

 supply to it at this point." 



I'u;. J7. I'r'-nu-la crate'-ri-vm. I'.i.At k I'e/i -z.\. .\ very ciunmDii and con- 

 siiicudus .A.':-c.>-my-ce'-tou.'; or Cup-funpus, growing in clusttrs on rotten limbs and 

 logs that lie in moist places. The hy-mc' ni-iDii or sporc-bcarinjj s\irface is the interior 

 wall of the cup. The spores are at maturity shot out of the as'-ci, and can be seen 

 sometimes by gently jarring the fungus when it is ready to make a discharge, as a 

 little cloud an inch or two above the cup. The illustration was made from a ))hoto- 

 .travih sent hy T. K. Savage, Des Moines, Iowa. 



University Bulletin, Scries 9, No. 5. Entered as Second Qass Matter, Post-office at Columbus. Ohio 



