lxxii 
Journal of Proceedings. 
fungus growths are very common on decaying fruit and leaves. The 
fungus of ringworm is another very familiar example. Fairy rings, 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 unfit 
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 six inches, and on the outside of this little 
circle a small fairy ring of Fungi will appear the second year. When 
this ring of Fungi 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 
oil extending itself for forty years or more, until at last an enormous 
circle is made that may sometimes be seen on hill-sides from a dis¬ 
tance of a mile or more. If an obstruction occurs a semi-circle may 
sometimes result; at other times, when numerous rings grow near each 
other in the same pasture, or on the same hill-side, 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-extending 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 
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 npa remarkable manner, leaving the ground ahnost 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 
Hygrophorus 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 envelop 
several trees and many bushes in their circumference. Such rings, I 
suppose, are the dancing places of the dryads, nymphs who also danced 
and frolicked to the pipe of Pan. As far as I know, Fungi which grow 
in circles have never been catalogued and distinguished from those which 
grow in an irregular or sporadic manner. Some certainly can grow in a 
line, for I once noted a number of specimens of Helvetia crispa which 
