THE FAIRY RING 



THE warm humidity of the past week or two 

 has proved very favourable to fungoid growths 

 of all sorts. On tree-trunks, on decaying wood- 

 work, and, above all, on old grasslands the pro- 

 verbial swift maturity of the mushroom family 

 has been claiming the attention of even incurious 

 eyes. On the grass plot beside the door you find 

 in the morning a little forest of brown and for- 

 bidding-looking agarics, and could swear there 

 was no sign of them the night before. The golfer, 

 making his morning round, practises driving on 

 the temptingly poised umbrella-heads, and leaves 

 not one in his wake. But next day there are plenty 

 more. He may even find a whole ring of them, 

 many yards in circumference, perfect in its circular 

 drawing, which seems to have come into being 

 by the magic art of some dark agency of the 

 night. 



The fairy mushroom ring has puzzled mankind 

 from the earliest times, and it remains in many 

 ways the most interesting of fungus phenomena 

 in this country. At all seasons of the year it is 

 easy to discover on any piece of well -cropped 

 permanent pasture a circular patch well marked 

 off from the rest by its colour. The circle may 



