Norcliffe. 115 



which the squirrels are glad of, and strip away by the 

 spring. Under this tree, on August 20, 1859, there were 

 plenty of the beautiful Aga'ricus procerus, a fungus 

 fashioned like a parasol, and the white convex delicately 

 flecked with brown scales. Probably it occurs there 

 every year, though fungi are always uncertain. Strange 

 that some of the most elegant forms of the most fugitive 

 of all vegetable productions should be found associated, 

 as a rule, with some of the most elegant of those that 

 live longest. For here, too, beneath the Conifers, occurs 



FIG. 1 8. 

 Agaricus muscarius. 



not only the procerus fcvk that gorgeous plant, the Aga'ri- 

 cus musca'rius, which sustains on an ivory pillar a scarlet 

 crown, dotted with cream-coloured enamel. 

 Not alone for its Conifers is Norcliffe celebrated 



