AUGUST. 245 



may speedily convince himself that the chorus pro- 

 ceeds from a species of bull-frog. Their eternal 

 nocturnal chorus has a curious, and, at length, 

 wearying effect on the ears of persons from more 

 northern counties. In the evening numbers of the 

 large black beetle (Geotrupus stercorarius) fly hum- 

 ming and striking against you, often in your face. 

 After rains mushrooms are to be found in abundance 

 in old pastures. 



Those singular appearances in the grass com- 

 monly called FAIRY-RINGS, are never more con- 

 spicuous than in the autumn months. Even when 

 all other grass is brown, they exhibit a well-defined 

 and bright-green circle. The production of these 

 remarkable circles, and the property which they 

 possess of every year becoming 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, 

 somewhat 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 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 

 beneath them, dividing the green ring into two, and 

 21* 



