334 SEPTEMBER. 



interest now that some of the partners of my 

 pleasure are sleeping in the dust. 



I must not omit the great variety of fungi 

 which flourish this month. These are of every 

 size, shade and hue, according to species 

 and situation, from the slender filament of 

 scarlet or yellow upon some decaying stump, 

 to the bold, broad agaric of .a foot in height and 

 diameter, standing in the forest as a fitting 

 table for King Oberon. No production of 

 Nature but is endowed with some portion of 

 that beauty so lavishly diffused through crea- 

 tion ; and these humble and despised vegeta- 

 bles which the clown kicks away with his foot 

 will certainly appear to an attentive eye not 

 destitute of their share. In roaming the ancient 

 wilds of Sherwood Forest in the autumn of 1827, 

 I was particularly struck with their varying 

 character ; some broad, tabular and flecked with 

 brown ; some in the shade of trees of a pearly 

 whiteness, others of a brilliant rose-colour, some 

 whose delicate surfaces were studded with dark 

 embossments, some fashioned like a Chinese 

 parasol ; others gibbous and grotesque, the 

 massy puff-ball, which before it becomes dry has 

 been known to weigh several pounds, the 



