VARIOUS PAETS OF NATUEE 353 



latter, he added, have little or no smell, and are not so easily 

 discovered by the dogs as those that lie deeper. Half a crown a 

 pound was the price which he asked for this commodity. 



Truffles never abound in wet winters and springs. They are 

 in season in different situations, at least nine months in the year. 



TREMELLA NOSTOC. 



Though the weather may have been ever so dry and burning, 

 yet after two or three wet days, this jelly-like substance abounds 

 on the walks. 



FAIRY RINGS. 



The cause, occasion, call it what you will, of fairy -rings, subsists 

 in the turf, and is conveyable with it : for the turf of my garden- 

 walks, brought from the down above, abounds with those appear- 

 ances, which vary their shape, and shift situation continually, 

 discovering themselves now in circles, now in segments, and 

 sometimes in irregular patches and spots. Wherever they obtain, 

 puff-balls abound ; the seeds of which were doubtless brought in 

 the turf. 



METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS. 

 BAROMETER. 



NOVEMBER 22, 1768. A remarkable fall of the barometer all 

 over the kingdom. At Selborne we had no wind, and not much 

 rain ; only vast, swagging, rock-like clouds appeared at a dis- 

 tance. 



PARTIAL FROST. 



The country people, who are abroad in winter mornings long 

 before sun-rise, talk much of hard frost in some spots, and none 

 in others. The reason of these partial frosts is obvious, for there 

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