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The Museum Gazette 



mortars, having found a patch on a pine branch at Inval. It 

 was brought home and kept moist in a basin with a little 

 water at the bottom. 



Other members of the group, known as bird's-nest fungi (to 

 which Sphaerobolus belongs) are probably better known to 

 our readers. They are so called from their cuplike form, the 

 sporangia lying at the bottom of the cup like birds' eggs in a 

 nest. In this case, however, the sporangia are not loose, but 

 are joined to the interior of the cup by an elastic thread. 

 They are washed out in wet weather, and become detached. 



The Orange-peel Fungus (Peziza anvantia). 



We have given it this popular name from its resemblance 

 to a piece of orange-peel lying by the roadside. It is often 

 crowded, sometimes solitary ; in the latter case it is usually 

 regular in outline, resembling a small teacup ; ccespitose 

 specimens are always smaller. In the district around Hasle- 

 mere, wherever a new road is made, this fungus appears at 

 its borders the following autumn. 



It belongs to the order Ascomycetes, in which the spores 

 are contained in little capsules (asci), each containing eight 

 spores. The tips of the asci cover the whole of the brightly 

 coloured inner portion (the exterior is paler). The asci may 

 be artificially induced to break up by gently breathing upon 

 the spore-bearing surface, when the spores will burst forth as 

 a little white cloud. 



Individuality in Trees. 



The idiosyncrasies of trees are an interesting study. In 

 spring some trees will develop their leaves two, or even three 

 weeks earlier than others of the same species growing in 

 close proximity. 



In autumn oak trees of the same age, living apparently 

 under precisely similar conditions, will show great diversity 

 in the manner of shedding their leaves. A tree may shed its 



