September 6, 1883. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
213 
rings and semicircles will be seen, the centre frequently on the very 
verge of the cliff, and the semicircle inland. Such semicircles prove 
that tethered animals do not cause fairy rings, for no owner of an 
animal would be such a lunatic as to drive a stake into the very edge of 
the chalk cliff, as at Beachy Head, and there tie his animal to it. Besides, 
some fairy rings are only 6 inches across, and what quadruped or insect 
could be tethered to make such a ring? That moles do not cause fairy 
rings is proved by the presence of the ring where moles are unknown, 
and on expanses of rock only covered by an inch or two of humus where 
moles cannot exist, and never have existed. Circular exhalations from 
the earth where fairy rings abound must, I think, be very rare, for I have 
seen thousands of fairy rings, but I have never seen a circular terrestrial 
fertilising exhalation 1 Electricity is not a speciality of mine, but as I 
know fairy rings to be invariably caused by something else it follows 
that they cannot be caused by electricity. As for the rings being caused 
by the tripping feet of fairies in a circling dance, few people now, un¬ 
fortunately, believe in fairies. They have gone the way of the giants, 
dryads, gnomes, and wraiths, since 
“ In Briton's isie in Arthur's days 
The midnight fairies danced the maze.” 
We could ill spare any of them, but in these times, when even the very 
youngest men are teaching us about the origin and evolution of all the 
phenomena of Nature, there is scant room for the fairies. The best 
known Fungus occupant of fairy rings is the Fairy Ring Agaric or 
Fig. 38.—Fairy ring fungus (Marasmius oreadc*, Fr.), slightly reduced. A, Section. 
Champignon, Marasmius oreades, termed in the older botanical books 
Agaricus oreades. It was termed Marasmius from the habit possessed 
by all the species of drying up and shrivelling in decay, as distinguished 
from Agarics proper, which all speedily putrefy. It has derived its name 
of oreades from the Oreads, the playful nymphs of the hills and moun¬ 
tains. The Oreads were the companions of Pan or Hylrnos, the forest 
god, and they danced and circled to his piping. The feeling of loneliness 
belonging to hilly places was attributed to the presence of Pan, and from 
this old belief has arisen our modern word ‘ panic,’ which means fear 
without a visible cause. Pan is said to have terrified people by sudden loud 
shouts, and to have sometimes ill-treated the inoffensive dancing fairy 
ring Oreads. If the botanist who walks over grassy hills happens to be 
an archmologist as well as a fungolist, he will possibly light on arrow 
heads of flint in country places, and especially in Ireland. These flint 
arrow heads are termed fairy darts or elfin shots, and they are associated 
with the sports and quarrels of the nymphs and fairies. Fairy rings are 
common in Ireland, but moles do not occur there ; this is a difficult 
point for the mole theorists. Fairy darts of flint were at one time 
common in Ireland, but of late they have nearly all been bought up by 
Irish cow doctors, who lend them to rustics to boil in the same pot with 
hot mashes prepared for ailing cows and pigs, for these fairy darts are 
supposed to have a mystic and potent power for curing the diseases 
peculiar to oxen and hogs. 
After this slight digression in reference to the classic name and 
associations of the Fairy Ring Agaric, we may now notice the Fungus 
itself. Marasmius oreades is generally about 2 or 3 inches high ; its 
colour is slightly more buff than a biscuit. The same colour pervades 
every part, the top being sometimes a shade darker than the gills and 
stem. Every part of the Fungus is rather firm, and the stem tough, 
solid, and smooth. The gills are free from the stem, unusually broad 
and thick, and unusually distant from each other. The top is smooth 
and fleshy, and commonly furnished with a central elevation. It grows on 
grassy hills, sometimes on precipitous hillsides or lawn3 in exposed 
wind-swept pastures, and amongst the short grass of roadsides. One 
of its chief characters is that it grows in and causes fairy rings. The 
Fungus is edible ; indeed it is one of the safest and most delicious of all 
edible Fungi. It seems just possible, however, that occasional examples 
are bad eating, and cause stomach-ache and other unpleasant symptoms ; 
but I am inclined to think that these indigestible examples are very 
rare, and may be classed with such things as stale eggs, tough beef, high 
venison, and rank butter. In fact, the high gastronomic character of 
the true Fairy Ring Champignon shines with a more brilliant lustre by 
contrast with a few alien individuals unfit for the table. However, in 
case of accidents, errors, or inconvenience, I always advise beginners in 
fungophagy to be provided with a bottle of sweet oil. If dizziness 
delirium, and cramp are found to be coming on, a draught of sweet oil is 
invaluable, for if enough be taken it causes immediate vomiting, and it 
tends to heal any damage that may be done to the throat and stomach 
by fungus-poisoning. The Fairy Ring Agaric is extremely common, and 
grows from late summer to late autumn, so that it may be well esteemed 
as one of the greatest boons given to us by good fairies and the great 
god Pan. 
The true explanation of the nature of fairy rings has been so often 
printed that I am almost ashamed to refer to it before this Society. 
Several persons have written to me of late to ask what my “ theory ” and 
what my “hypothesis” is as to fairy rings. My reply has every time 
been that I have got no “theory” or “hypothesis” either, for the facts are 
so perfectly well known that they do away with any necessity for a 
“theory.” Many Fungi have a great tendency to grow in circles. The 
spawn from which Fungi spring commonly starts from a spot made up 
of germinating spores. This spot becomes a centre from which the 
spawn extends outwards in every direction ; a crop of Fungi appears 
on the outer circular line of spawn (see fig. 39). Such ring-like Fungus 
growths are very common on decaying fruit and leaves. The Fungus 
of ringworm is another very familiar example. Fairy rrngs, as formed 
by Agarics, probably start from a single Fungus which has grown 
from wind-carried spores. The growth of the spawn of this single 
Fungus in the ground renders the spot where the individual grew untie 
to produce another Fungus of the same class. The spawn then extends 
itself from the central spot, and grows all through the winter and 
following summer a circular patch in the earth. One year’s growth 
will give a circle of about 6 inches, and on the outside of this little 
circle a small fairy ring of Fungi will appear the second year. When 
this ring of FuDgi dies it acts as a rich nitrogenous manure for the 
grass, so that in the third summer a circle of rank fungus-manured 
grass is seen. The grassy circle is often in strong contrast with 
adjoining dead grass killed by the Fungus spawn infesting the roots. 
If circumstances are favourable the underground spawn will now keep 
on extending itself for forty years or more, until at last an enormous 
circle is made that may sometimes be seen on hillsides from a dis¬ 
tance of a mile or more. If an obstruction occurs a semicircle may 
sometimes result ; at other times, when numerous rings grow near each 
other in the same pasture, or on the same hillside, various ogee curves 
and wavy lines of rank grass, barren ground, and Fungi are originated. 
The whole phenomenon of ring-growth is comparable with a stone 
thrown in still water. The stone is like the first few germinating 
Fungus spores, and the ever-ex f ending rings produced by the impact of 
the stone on the water are like the ever-extending rings produced by 
the underground spawn of the Fungus. Sometimes a large fairy ring 
will appear in a place, as on a lawn, where no Fungi have been seen 
before, and where no smaller rings have preceded the large one. This 
phenomenon is caused by the first Fungus being overlooked, and then 
a series of seasons have followed unsuitable for the production of the 
Fungi. The spawn, however, has been alive underground, and has 
Tip. 39.—Fairy Itingr. The ground partly shown in section, A centre, where the original 
Fungus has decayed, and whence springs the underground spawn, B. B, o£ the 
Fungus (Marasmius oreades), which gives rise to the fairy ring. 
kept on year after year extending itself till at last a suitable season 
arrives, and a crop of Agarics is the result at the circular margin of 
the underground spawn. 
It must not be supposed that the Fairy Ring Agaric is the only 
Fungus capable of making a true fairy ring, for many Agarics and other 
Fungi are capable of doing this. Puff-balls frequently form fairy rings. 
The St. George’s Agaric, Agaricus gambosus, which grows in April, makes 
very strongly marked fairy rings. The spawn of this Fungus chokes the 
grass in a remarkable manner, leaving the ground almost bare, and the 
Fungus itself is so fleshy and large that it manures the circle where it 
grows in a most striking manner. Another very large Fungus named 
Agaricus geotrupus causes unusually large and bold fairy rings. The 
common Mushroom does not make rings, but a close ally, if indeed it is 
not a mere variety of the same plant—viz , the Horse Mushroom, is said 
to produce rings. If so, this should be one reason for making the two 
Fungi distinct species. There is also an extremely small Agaric named 
Higrophorus niveus that I have seen growing in perfect rings only an inch 
or two across. Some fairy rings are found in woods, and a notable 
example is found in Agaricus fastibilis. This forms grassy rings inside 
woods quite distinct from the drip of the trees, for the rings often envelope 
