56 



NOTES on FUNGI. 



Abundance of White Rust on Crucifers at Hibaldstow.— At 



Hibaldstow, on 22nd October 1900, I found the White Rust fungus {Oystopus 

 candidus Lev.) so common on crucifers infecting- some plants of that 

 order, especially Bursa. Mr. George Massee, of Kew Herbarium, kindly 

 named it for me. — E. Adrian Woodruffe Peacock, Cadney, Brigg, 29th 

 October 1900. 



Poronia punctata near Hedon. —On 29th December 1900, when 

 walking over Saltend ' Stray,' I found a group of Poronia punctata growing - 

 on horse dung. One small piece bore more than one hundred and twenty 

 specimens, which were equally distributed over both the upper and under 

 surface. The 'Stray' is old reclaimed land, but was accidentally flooded 

 with salt water last August. The identification has been confirmed by 

 Dr. C. B. Plowright, King's Lynn. 



I have not been able to find any record of this species in the Yorkshire 

 fungus lists. — T. Petch, Hedon, Hull, 21st January 1901. 



Pleurotus ostreatus at Horsforth. — A form of this fungus grows 

 luxuriantly every autumn upon the trunk of a dead poplar in my grounds at 

 Horsforth, and has been kindly determined for me by Mr. Charles Crossland. 



With age, this species attains a good size, and becomes of an intense 

 blue-black above, though retaining" the delicate whiteness of the gills beneath. 



Though its near relative Pleurotus euosmus is not safe eating - , this 

 species is said to be edible by some authors, and Mr. H. G. Brierley, of 

 Huddersfield, who has tried it, affirms that it makes an excellent and 

 appetising dish when stewed with butter. — John W. Taylor, North 

 Grange, Horsforth, Leeds, 29th December 1900. 



Bird's-Nest Fungus at Hull Docks. — This peculiar little fungus 

 [Cyathus vernicosus DC.) was seen by Mr. C. Waterfall in immense numbers 

 at Hull last October. It was growing on dock sweepings in closely packed 

 clusters, springing from a wide-spreading bed of mycelium, in the West 

 Dock Reservation. The peridium takes the shape of a miniature bird's-nest 

 containing six to ten, or even a dozen peridiolas (' eggs'). It is fairly common, 

 but usually not in such great quantity as observed by Mr. Waterfall. 



The writer will be pleased to receive fungi of any kind for examination 

 from any part of Yorkshire. The forwarding of specimens, accurately 

 located, will materially help to work out the distribution of the members ot 

 this much neglected, yet most important, branch of British botany. — C. 

 Crossland, Halifax, 1st November 1900. 



Fairy Rings. — Is not the green and vigorous grass forming" the ring-s 

 produced by the decay of fungi of the previous year acting as manure? 

 Psalliota arvensis and Tricholoma gambosus have a tendency to grow in 

 rings, as well as Marasniius oreades, and the poorness of the grass inside 

 the ring seems to me to be caused by the exhaustion of the soil consequent 

 011 the growth of the mycelium of the fungi of former years. The spores 

 falling on the outside of the ring (as well as the mycelium) have obviously 

 a better chance of developing on new ground than on that which has already 

 borne a crop, hence the increase in the size of the rings. The incompleteness 

 of the circle (where it occurs) must be owing to the unsuitability of .the soil 

 where the gaps occur, to the outward spread of the mycelium. 



Will someone living where any of the above-named fungi are plentiful 

 gather some next season, and leave them to decay on a g rass plot, marking 

 the place and observing the effect? I shall be much surprised if a strong 

 contrast be not observable the following year between the thus manured and 

 the surrounding grass. It would be well also, as Mr. Crossland suggests, 

 to measure the diameter of the rings in each succeeding- year, and thus find 

 out to what extent they increase. 



So far as my experience goes Psalliota arvensis and Tricholoma g-ambosus 

 occur in pastures and Marasmius oreades, as a rule, on poor sandy land, such 

 as that on heaths and commons. — W. Fowler, Liversedge, 5th Jan. 1901. 



Naturalist, 



