FUNGI AND LICHENS. 



On the ground, amongst grass, moss, and dead 

 leaves some very delicate and often beautiful forms 

 of branched or club-shaped fungi will be observed. 

 The species are numerous, but perhaps the finest and 

 most attractive of common 

 species is the Fusiform Clav- 

 aria, which grows in Epping 

 Forest in clusters as large as 

 one's fist ; it is of a bright 

 yellow colour, and consists of 

 numerous e*rect, straight stems, 

 not thicker than an ordinary- 

 slate pencil, pointed at the top 

 and narrowed below, where 

 they all spring from one com- 

 mon root. Each of these stems 

 is from two to four inches in 

 length, and brittle, so that if 

 roughly handled they snap in 

 two like threads of glass. 



There are other species which have the stems 

 very much branched, and often united at the base 

 into one thick trunk. Some are milky white, others 

 the colour of yellow ochre, and others of a beautiful 

 lilac or violet. They are all known by the name of 

 Clavaria. 



Whilst looking on the ground for these it is very 

 probable that some curious little cups will be found 

 which would never have been noticed but for close 

 examination of the ground. These little cups will be 

 found in clusters, sometimes a great number of them 

 growing together, not more than from a quarter to 



I 2 



FUSIFORM CLAVARIA. 



