AUGUST. 283 



face. After rains mushrooms are to be found 

 in abundance in old pastures. 



Those singular appearances in the grass 

 commonly called FAIRY RINGS, are never more 

 conspicuous than in the autumn months. Even 

 when all other grass is brown, they exhibit a 

 well-defined and bright green circle. The pro- 

 duction of these remarkable circles, and the 

 property which they possess of every year be- 

 coming larger, have, of late years, been the 

 subjects of various theories. They have been 

 attributed to lightning, to fungi, which every 

 year grow upon the outer margin of the circle, 

 and then perishing, cause, by the rich remains, 

 a fresh circle of vivid green to appear, some- 

 what wider of course than the former one. 

 They have also been attributed to insects. 

 The least plausible theory is that of lightning ; 

 the most plausible that of fungi. Insects are a 

 consequence of the fungi, rather than a cause of 

 the circle ; for where there are fungi there will 

 be insects to devour them. Fungi are also 

 always found more or less about them. I have 

 seen them of so large a species that, in their 

 growth, they totally destroyed the grass be- 

 neath them, dividing the green ring into two, 



