THE YOUNG NATURALIST. 



231 



NATURE IN DECEMBER. 



By ALBERT H. WATERS, B.A. 



Although, to most people, December may appear a month wherein the 

 naturalist has nothing to do in the way of out-door work, such is not exactly 

 the fact, for even in mid-winter there is more to do in the way of collecting 

 and observing, than the uninitiated would suspect. 



The day on which we take our imaginary typical ramble is a bright and 

 cheerful one, although withal somewhat cold. There has been a slight frost 

 in the night, and the ground, early in the morning, was white with rime, but 

 this has now disappeared and the aspect of nature is far from being a cheer- 

 less one as the rays of the noon-tide sun light up the rural landscape. 



The birds we see as we walk along are for the most part collected together 

 in flocks. Besides the common species, we observe one or two sea gulls. 

 These birds, as we remarked last winter, often fly inland at this time of the 

 year. 



We shall do well now to collect micro fungi as this will give us plenty of 

 employment. It is impossible here to give anything like a list of the species 

 to be found, but there are several excellent works ou the subject, such as 

 Cooke's " Micro-fungi/' and Brittains " Introduction to the Micro-fungi 

 when and where to find them," and to these the would-be student must be 

 referred. 



One or two kinds may, however, be briefly noticed. The golden yellow 

 branched fungus we see so often on fir trees, after they have been cut down 

 and have lain for some time is known as Calocera viscosa and it gets this 

 name from its viscid nature ; it is one of the division Myxomycetes. A 

 species of Sphceria may be found on dead bramble stems. It is known as 

 Spharia rostellata and the genus to which it belongs is a very large one, 

 including between one and two hundred different species occurring in the 

 British Isles. These minute fungi are in the form of tiny black globular 

 bodies, often growing quite inside the substance of the branch or leaf on 

 which it occurs. 



A very beautiful micro fungus, when magnified, is the bright pink or coral- 

 red Neclria cirinabarina, occurring on dead branches. I have not time to 

 describe it more particularly, and the only others I have room to mention 

 here are Agaricus septicus found on dead twigs, &c, and white in colour ; 

 another of the genus [A. applicatus) is ashy grey. Besides these may be 

 mentioned the white Pistillaria quisquillaris, often found on dead fern stems 

 and the minute Typhula filiformis and T. erythropus growing on dead leaves 

 and stems. 



