i58 



NOTE on FUNGI. 



Fairy Rings. — A correspondent asked two or three months ago if 

 anyone would explain the process by which these are formed. I take the 

 explanation to be as follows : — Nature is an economical agriculturist, 

 working on sound principles. Now every farmer knows the need of 

 4 a rotation of crops.' If the soil is not to be exhausted, the same crop 

 (with some exceptions) should not be grown on the same ground two years 

 running. By some 'accident,' we will say, a fungus seed, is sown on 

 a certain spot ; it matters not how the seed is brought there ; it may be 

 conveyed in the toes of a bird's foot ; it may be wind-borne, or what not ; 

 but, once sown, in due course it produces a fungus. That fungus, as it 

 grows, exhausts its little area of the particular soil-elements which go to 

 form it. 'Nature abhors a vacuum,' and does not encourag-e further 

 growth of the same crop on the exhausted soil. When, therefore, the 

 fungus sows its seeds, only those grow which are shed outside the area of 

 the first growth. Thus an outer 'ring' is formed of the second growth, 

 consisting of the seeds, which have fallen on what is, to them, virgin soil. 

 This ring of second growth in due course sows its seeds. These again, by 

 Nature's law, avoid the vacuum, i.e., the further exhausted area ; and so 

 again only the outer seeds, which fall on genial soil, are developed. Thus 

 the fairv ring-, year by year, expands. The fungus, by its own decay, 

 gradually enriches the soil, rendering it again fertile in the elements once 

 extracted ;■ and so we sometimes see fairy ring-s intersecting ; but the whole 

 process is the result of two great natural laws, the need of ' a rotation of 

 crops' and 'Nature's abhorrence of a vacuum.' — J. Conway Walter, 

 Langton Rectory, nth March 1901. 



NOTE on YORKSHIRE FOR A M INIFERA . 



Foraminifera Found in a Gathering- of Sand from Bridlington.— 



The following is a list of the species of Foraminifera found in a few ounces 

 of this material kindly submitted to me by Mr. R. H. Philip, of Hull. The 

 fossil forms are marked * : — 



Bilocirtina depressa d'Orb. 



Spiroculina limbata d'Orb. 



Spirocidina grata Terq. 



Miliolina seininulum Linn. 



Miliolina coniorta d'Orb. 



Miliolina oblonga Montagu. 



Miliolina trigonula Lamk. 



Miliolina secans d'Orb. 



Miliolina circularis Bornem. 



Miliolina bicornis W. &J. 



Miliolina ferussacii d'Orb.? 

 * Textidaria globulosa Ehr. 

 Verneuilina polystropha Rss. 



Bulimina pupoides d'Orb. 



Bulimina elongata d'Orb. 



Bulimina subteres Brady. 



Bulimina marginata d'Orb. 



Bulim ina fusiform is Will. 



Bolivina textilarides Rss. 



Bolivina robusta Brady. 



Boliv in a plica ta d'Orb. 



Cassidulina Icevigata d'Orb. 



Lagena sulcata (W.&J.) var. 



interrupt a Will. 

 -F. W. Mills, Thornleigh, Hudd 



Lagena williamsoni Alcock. 



Lagena squamosa Montagu. 



Lagena squamosa var. 



(very near L. melo d'Orb.). 



Lagena Icevigata Rss. 



Lagena lucida W T ill. 



Lagena orbignyana Seg. 



Marginulina glabra d'Orb. 



A rough var. ? 



Planorbulina mediterranensis d 'Orb . 

 * Globigerina cretacea d'Orb. 

 * Globigerina lumena d'Orb. 



Discorbina globularis d'Orb. 



Discorbina rosacea d'Orb. 



Discorbina wrightii Brady? 



Truncatulina lobatula W.&J. 

 * Truncatulina ? 



Pulvintdina repanda (F.&M.) var. 



concamerata Montagu? 



Rot alia beccarii Linn. 



Nonionina depressula W.&J. 



Nonionina scapha Will. 



Polystomella siriatopunctata F.&M. 



Polystomella crispa Linn, 

 ersfield, 16th March iqoi.- 



Naturalist, 



