264 FIRST APPEARANCES OF BIRDS, INSECTS, ETC. 



sacraria, L., which is extremely rare in Britain, and of which 

 only three specimens had previously been taken in Dorset. 



BOTANICAL NOTES. 



RARE FUNGUS. A beautiful crimson-red Fungus, growing in 

 late winter and early spring on damp rotting sticks partly buried 

 in earth, that I have found very sparingly in one spot near 

 Corfe Castle for many years past, has been identified by my 

 friend, Mr. G. F. Rayner, of Southampton, as Geopyxis (Peziza} 

 coccinea, an extremely local and uncommon species not as yet 

 discovered in either the New Forest or Southampton districts. 

 Within the last year or two I have met with it, though rarely, in 

 two other spots near Corfe Castle, and have ascertained that it 

 occurs in one in the adjoining parish of Kingston. Wishing 

 to obtain specimens for Mr. Rayner, I visited my original 

 locality for this Fungus on February 16, 1905, and in one 

 hedgerow, under 200 yards in length, had the good fortune by 

 close searching amongst the mass of dead leaves, &c., which 

 rendered most of them quite invisible to the passer-by, to 

 discover about 100 examples, of which some 30 or more were 

 left for stock, in but little over half-an-hour. I doubt if I had 

 ever previously met with more than ten or twelve in a single day, 

 though that same fence had often been tried for them. This 

 remarkable find, doubtless due to specially suitable conditions as 

 the result of the sallow hedge not having been laid for several 

 years, included individuals of all ages and sizes, some being far 

 larger than any previously observed ; several were i inches 

 across the top, but, amongst others subsequently found in the 

 sand hedgerow, two, although partly eaten, measured respectively 

 2 and 2 7-16 inches in length of "cup," that of the latter being 

 if inches in breadth. G. coccinea is not included in Mr. C. 

 Broome's " List of Fungi collected in Purbeck," published in the 

 Purbeck Society Papers, pp. 252-261 (1858), nor do I know of it 

 having been recorded from any part of the county of Dorset 

 (E. R. B.). 



