13 5 
Dr. Wollaston’s Essay dii Fairy-Rings. 
distinctly noticed ; but as he happened not to observe any of 
the fungi that occasioned them, he speaks of it merely as “ a 
piece of natural history worth recording, and for which, a 
theory is wanting." 
Respecting the enlargement, he says, “ from all the obser- 
vations I have made, this progress seems always to have pro- 
ceeded in the direction of a line bisecting the segment, that is 
to say, those portions of concentric circles are never inscribed: 
but always circumscribed ; and for this reason it appears, 
that those circles of which segments are exhibited to our ob-t 
servation must be increasing and not diminishing in their' 
diameters." 
Although Dr. HuTTONhas overlooked the real origin of these' 
appearances, Dr. Withering has ascribed them to their true 
cause ; but his remarks are confined to one species of agaric 
(the Ag. orcades of his Arrangement) , and do not appear to have' 
been confirmed by any subsequent observation of their annual 
progress. 1 . • <’ 
“ I am satisfied," says he, “ that the bare and brown, of 
highly cloathed and verdant circles in pasture fields called' 
Fairy-rings are caused by the growth of this agaric." — “ Where 
the ring is brown and almost bare, by digging up the soil to 
the depth of about two inches, the spawn of the fungus will*, 
be found of a greyish white colour ; but where the grass has > 
again grown green and rank 1 have never found any of the 
spawn existing." t 
Had Dr. Withering frequently repeated this examination * 
of the soil he would have corrected the last remark, which is • 
not universally true, as the grass may at some period be founds 
luxuriant even over the midecayed spawn. During the growth > 
T 2 
