1858.] BOTANICAL NOTES, NOTICES, AND QUERIES. 445 



composed of a coarse sago, that is to say, of cellular tissue with starch 

 grains." I apprehend that " the particular property" which preserves 

 Ferns from the attacks of insects is the bitter principle which they possess, 

 and has led to several kinds being employed in medicine as vermifuges.* 

 The larva of Hepialiis Velleda (Swift Moth) feeds on the roots of the com- 

 mon Fern (P. aqmlina). Probably the late lamented author of the ' Tes- 

 timony of the Rocks' is quite correct when he asserts " that the Ferns 

 on our hillsides scarce support the existence of a single creature^ If 

 there be any creatures who exist solely on a Fern diet, the naturalist must 

 look for them in the highlands of tropical America, where the Tree-Ferns 

 flourish, and the genus attains a more luxuriant growth than it now does 

 in the temperate regions. I enclose part of a frond of Scolopendrium 

 vulgare, from my herbarium, which has been devoured by the grub of 

 some insect. J. G. 



Enormous Fungus. 



(From tire Doncaster, Nottingham, and Lincoln Gazette.') 



There is now growing in the subterranean passage or tunnel on the 

 premises of Mr. William Senior, near Shakespeare's Head, Doncaster, a 

 most interesting specimen of Hydnum Barba-Jovis, or Jove's-beard, a 

 species of British fungus. Within the tunnel are growing several specimens 

 of this elegant plant. Two are especially worthy of remark, the largest 

 of which measures about thirteen feet in diameter, and is of substance like 

 fine plush or down, purely white. It commences growing from an oak 

 beam which has been placed to support the roof of the cave, and in its 

 growth downwards adheres closely to the sandstone rock, the sides of 

 which are perpendicular, this beautiful plant extending in every direction 

 its fan-like shape, and forming a semicircular margin. For a I'cason why 

 a specimen of this species of fungus, which has appeared in several places 

 in the kingdom, and has been described by most authors on British botany, 

 has attained so large a size, we. give the following: — It is growing in a 

 cave or tunnel, probably a hundred yards from the entrance, and the atmo- 

 sphere in the part where it grows differing little in winter from summer, 

 always dark, invariably damp, and constantly temperate ; that the plant 

 can increase in size until the source from whence its nourishment was first 

 obtained becomes exhausted, and that does not seem to be the case until 

 it reaches an enormous size, far beyond any former described limits ; in- 

 creasing progressively and regularly ; and besides the original root, sand- 

 stone surface may also afibrd nutriment to perpetuate its health, so that a 

 continued growth is the consequence, while the specimens noticed by 

 popular botanists, ancient or moderi>, may have been produced under quite 

 different circumstances, as alternate dry and wet, or after the plant has at- 

 tained a moderate growth suddenly becoming dry, or the plant may have 

 first vegetated in a propitious situation and congenial atmosphere, when 



* In M. A. de Jussieu's ' Botanique,' p. 561, the following account of the pro- 

 perties of Ferns is given : — ■" Dans plusieiu's Fougeres des pays chauds, les souches 

 contiennent un principe nutritif qui perrnet de les employer a 1' alimentation ; mais 

 dans les notres, le mucilage est mele a un autre principe, quelqiiefois stimulant et 

 meme purgatif, qui les rends impropres a ce premier usage, utile au contraii-e a la 

 medecine." 



