OBSERVATIONS ON VEGETABLES. 327 



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 convey able with it ; 

 for the turf of my garden-walks, brought from the down above, 

 abounds with those appearances, 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 distance. 



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 par- 

 tial frosts is obvious, for there are at such times partial fogs 

 about : where the fog obtains, little or no frost appears ; but 



with, a rugged surface-like work. It is held in high estimation by 

 epicures, being used in various dishes, stuffing of turkeys, and sometimes 

 it is boiled in port wine and eaten with salt, and purchased, when scarce, at 

 two guineas per pound weight. Truffles are produced in various parts of 

 the Continent, where they are searched for with swine. In England, they 

 are found in the southern counties growing in woods, chiefly in Sussex, 

 Harts, and Berks, where they are discovered by dogs, the sagacity of these 

 animals pointing out the places by the scent. The season for truffles 

 commences in September. ED. 



The true cause of this phenomenon is not yet properly understood. 

 Mr Dovaston is of opinion that they are occasioned by electricity, and 

 that the fungi which are seen on these rings are the effect rather than 

 the cause, of these appearances. Mr Johnson, of Wetherby, in a paper 

 in the fourth volume of the Philosophical Journal, attributes them to the 

 droppings of starlings, which, when in large flights, frequently alight on 

 the ground in circles, and sometimes are known to sit a considerable time 

 in these annular congregations. ED. 



