234 



THE NATURE BOOK 



circumstances, the alternative method of 

 defence may be forgiven him. 



The Hedgehog probably has more than 

 one htter in the year, each consisting of 

 four or live young, which are born blind 

 and, as one would naturally expect, 

 without quills. The latter commence 

 to appear within twenty-four hours. 

 They are at first quite soft and scat- 

 tered at fairly wide intervals. The 

 spaces, however, fill up quickly, and 

 in about a fortnight's time the httle beast 

 is fairly covered, as far as his back is 

 concerned. The hairy portions of him 

 take longer, and it is a full month before 

 his quills stiffen and he can coil himself 

 up like mother. Parents and young 

 remain together for a considerable time, 

 and I have more than once found a whole 

 family hibernating together. 



The two young Hedgehogs whose 



photograph is given on page 232, were 

 the subject of rather an unfortunate ex- 

 periment. The nest was discovered while 

 some waste ground was being cleared, 

 and as I was doubtful of being able to 

 give the young ones the attention which 

 young animals require, and yet was in 

 need of Hedgehogs, I set a box-trap 

 in such a way that the only entrance 

 to the nest lay through it, and retired 

 in the full confidence of being able to 

 capture the mother. Some marauding 

 beast, however, managed to scent the 

 young ones during the evening, and on 

 returning at midnight I found every- 

 thing but the trap disturbed, and the 

 young ones gone. I left the trap and 

 caught what I presume to have been the 

 mother on the night following, and what 

 I presume to have been the father on the 

 night after that. 



Douglas English. 



SOME COMMON BRITISH FUNGI 



By MAUD U. CLARKE 

 Illustrated with Photographs by Henry Irving 



BEFORE giving some description of 

 the eight varieties of Fungi which 

 are illustrated in this article, it 

 would be well to consider, briefly, the 

 main characteristics of the family in 

 general. 



The Fungi form an exceedingly interest- 

 ing class of plants, the complexity of struc- 

 ture individually being much greater than 

 is generally recognised, whilst the com- 

 plexity evolv^ed through adaptation to cir- 

 cumstance has resulted in so great a tribe 

 of classes and sub-classes, orders and 

 sub-orders, that very careful scrutiny, 

 oftentimes with the aid of a microscope, 

 is necessary before species can be 

 determined. Nevertheless, there are so 

 many who find pleasure in the beauti- 

 ful form and colouring of the Fungi, 

 without caring for comprehensive 

 knowledge of the subject, that it will 



be to some purpose if the names of some 

 of the more common species are given, 

 and the reason why such species are 

 divided into separate groups. From the 

 point of view of colouring, taking a few 

 varieties at random from certain classes, 

 one can enumerate examples that are as 

 brilliant as flowers, and quite as gracefully 

 shaded and variegated. They possess, 

 indeed, a range of colour that may be said 

 to exceed that of flowers, since it passes 

 down through orange to shades of tan 

 and russet-brown to mushroom-black. 



From the order of the Russida, there is 

 R. Viyescois, with emerald green cap and 

 white gills and stem ; R. Linncei, with 

 rose cap and yellow gills ; R. Azurea, 

 blue cap shading variably to green or 

 purple with white gills ; R. Olivacea, 

 green cap with crimson rings; R. Qneletii, 

 purple cap with white gills, whilst R. 



