198 



KNOWLEDGE. 



[September 1, 1899. 



not yet been discovered; but the grasses immediately 

 following the fungi have been analysed and found to 

 contain a larger proportion of nitrogen than the herbage 

 in the neighbourhood. 



Fairy rings are sometimes distinctly visible on a hillside 

 from a considerable distance, many of them being years 

 old and of enormous dimensions. One recorded from 

 Stabbing, in Essex, measured 120 feet across, the grass all 

 over it being very coarse and dark green in colour, chiefly 

 of the cock's-foot species. Rings found in pasture lands 

 are composed of several species of fungi, all of which are 

 edible. They are most frequently observed to be formed 

 by marasmim oreadcs, a little bufl' mushroom which most 

 people know under the name of champignons or Scotch 

 bonnets. It is abundant everywhere. For several months 

 in the year it comes up in successive crops in great 

 profusion after rain, and continually traces fairy rings 

 among the grass. 



Another and very delicious mushroom, agaricus prunulus, 

 sometimes called the plum agaric, and known in America 

 as the French mushroom, occasionally succeeds a crop 

 of champignons which had recently occupied the same 

 site. It is sometimes found throughout the summer, 

 but autumn is the time to look for it. The only 

 other good edible fungi to be found in any quantity 

 forming rings are the horse-mushroom, the giant mush- 

 room, and St. George's mushroom. The first two are 

 excellent eating, and to be had in the late summer and 

 autumn ; but the last are reproduced in rings in spring 

 every year — the circle continuing to increase till it breaks 

 up into irregular lines. The continuity of the circle is a 

 sign to the collector that there will be a plentiful harvest 

 next spring, while the breaking up is conclusive proof 

 that it is going to disappear from that place. Spring is 

 the only time it makes its appearaace and the proper place 

 to look for it is the borders of woodlands. It is one of the 

 most savoury of mushrooms, and difficult to be confounded 

 with any other, as it appears at a time when scarcely any 

 other kinds occur. Like the champignon it has an 

 advantage over the common mushroom in the readiness 

 with which it dries, and is largely employed in the 

 preparation of ketchup. It is called St. George's mush- 

 room on account of its appearing about St. George's Day, 

 the 23rd of AprD, and among the peasants of Austria is 

 looked on as a special gift from that Saint. In Italy a 

 basket of early specimens is a favourite present among all 

 classes. 



BEN NEVIS AND ITS OBSERVATORY.-I. 



By William S. Bruce, f.r.s.o.s., formerly in charge of 

 the Observatory. 



(Illustrated by photographs taken by the Author. J 



BEN NEVIS, the highest mountain in the British 

 Isles, along with the northern Cam Dearg, forms 

 an irregular semilunar-shaped mass, the concavity 

 of which faces the north-east, and the convexity 

 the south-west. The lower north-western half of 

 this mass is the Cam Dearg, and the loftier south- 

 eastern half, Ben Nevis. Ben Nevis itself, rising in 

 the south as a rather steep slope from Glen Nevis, 

 drops perpendicularly towards the north as a precipice 

 varying in height from one thousand five hundred to 

 two thousand feet. To the west it continues as the 

 north-westerly lying Cam Dearg ; to the east it runs into 

 a north-easterly ridge which unites it to the Cam Mhor 

 Dearg. 



The summit of the mountain is an elongated plateau, 



more than one mile in length, averaging about seventy 

 yards in width, and is nearly eleven acres in extent. The 

 Ordnance Cairn lies almost exactly half-way between the 

 two extremities ; the Observatory rests close to, and to the 

 south of the Cairn. The broader and more regular portion 

 of this plateau, to the east of the Observatory, may be 

 termed East End: the portion divided into three parts 

 by two great gullies, West Etid. These two gullies are 

 known as the First Gorge and Second Gorge from their 

 respective proximities to the Observatory. Passing from 

 the Observatory to the First Gorge, we find a small 

 building situated on the southern edge of this plateau. 

 Here, during the summer months, visitors to the summit 

 are supplied with refreshments at a moderate cost by some 

 enterprising Fort William purveyors. 



Just beyond the southern edge of the summit, lying to 

 the south-south-east of the Observatory, flows a small 

 spring, Wragge's Well, sixty-sis feet below the Ordnance 

 Cairn. During a rainless season this spring runs dry, 

 since it is fed solely by rain falling or snow melting upon 

 the summit. Excepting this small spring, where a tank 

 holding a hundred and fifty gallons of water was placed 

 in 1896, there is no other water until, travelling westward, 

 we reach Buchan's Well, at an elevation of three thousand 

 six hundred feet, and even its supply is scanty. Lower 

 down, at three thousand three hundred and fifty feet, is 

 the Chrystal Well, also scantily supplied. The Eed Burn 

 has a fair supply of water at two thousand three hundred 

 feet. Below the contour of two thousand feet, nearly 

 two miles from the Observatory, is a fairly large lake. 

 Small streams flow from the south-west side into the 

 Nevis, and at the base of the great northern cliff is a 

 burn containing a considerable volume of water at two 

 thousand five hundred feet. We may safely say that there 

 is no substantial amount of water above two thousand five 

 hundred feet. 



Ben Nevis rises as a pink granite mass through the 

 Dalradian crystalline schists. In the centre of this granite 

 is a plug of dark porphyry. For the lower three thousand 

 feet or so of the ascent one traverses this pink granite, 

 the higher portions of which are more finely grained than 

 the lower. After the granite comes the dark porphyry, 

 of which about the last thousand feet of the mountain is 

 entirely composed. 



The ordinary unobservant individual would say that the 

 last two thousand feet of the Ben was devoid of vegetation ; 

 but, on examination it is found that there is scarcely a 

 rock which is not more or less covered with one or more 

 species of lichens, whilst there are also numerous mosses 

 growing wherever there is a suitable nidus. This is true, 

 even on the summit plateau, where the disjointed masses 

 of porphyry, with their strangely brecciated surfaces, form 

 so striking a feature. In some places round the edges of 

 the cliff these mosses grow quite luxuriantly, as well as 

 one or two phanerogams. 



As in the case of vegetation, so it is in that of animal 

 life the ordinary visitor would not note much. Yet, in 

 fine weather, the mountain top is swarming with insects. 

 There are spiders and snow-fleas, coleoptera, diptera, 

 hymenoptera, and many others, etc. Snow buntings 

 and ravens are there for nearly the whole year ; now 

 and again ptarmigan or a golden eagle may be seen. 

 Curiously enough, voles have been captured on the 

 summit, even in midwinter, about the Observatory, and 

 foxes, stoats, and mountain hares are not unfrequently 

 seen. 



The first question most people ask when they reach the 

 summit of Bsn Nevis during the summer months is : — Why 

 do you take observations on the top of a mountain, and 



