OF BRITISH FUNGI. 69 



absorbed all nutriment from the soil beneath that the 

 herbage was for a while destroyed. 



The Rev. M. J. Berkeley, an excellent authority, writes 

 of them : " These rings are sometimes of very ancient 

 date, and attain enormous dimensions, so as to be dis- 

 tinctly visible on a hill-aide from a considerable distance. 

 It is believed that they originate from a single fun- 

 gus, whose growth renders the soil immediately beneath 

 unfit for its reproduction. The spawn, however, 

 spreads all around, and in the second year produces a 

 crop whose spawn spreads again, the soil behind for- 

 bidding its return in that direction. Thus the circle 

 is continually increased, and extends indefinitely till 

 some cause intervenes to destroy it. If the spawn 

 did not spread on all sides at first, an arc of a 

 circle only is produced. The manure arising from the 

 dead fungi of the former years makes the grass pecu- 

 liarly vigorous round, so as to render the circle visible 

 even when there is no external appearance of the fun- 

 gus, and the contrast is often the stronger from that 

 behind being killed by the old spawn. This mode of 

 growth is far more common than is supposed, and 

 may be observed constantly in our woods, where the 

 spawn can spread only in the soil or amongst the leaves 

 and decaying fragments which cover it." ' 



One of the fairy legends associated with mushrooms 

 is that of the two serving-girls at Tavistock, to whom 

 the fairies were very kind. One of them by her neg- 



* " Outlines of British Fungology," p. 41. 



