SIMPLE OBJECTS.—No. I.
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STAR-SPORED FUNGUS (Asterosporium Hoffmanni).
The subject of our illustration is a small fungus which is very common on dead twings of beech, lime, &c. It occurs in the form of black pustiles which break through the bark, forming small orifices with a ragged, irregular mouth, within which the black mass of spores, about the size of a cabbage seed, is contained. The spores appear to be agglutinated together into a hard friable heap soon after the bursting of the cuticle, but at first they ooze out in a pasty mass. These spores are of a star-like form with three or four limbs, each of which is divided transversely by septa. When viewed by transmitted light they are almost of an amber colour. During the summer the pustules may be found on nearly every dead twig of beech or lime which still remains attached to the parent tree.
Mounting.—A little fragment of the black mass, taken out from one of the pustules, on the point of a penknife, may be laid on a glass slide, and a drop of spirit added, which assists in breaking it up into its constituent spores, whilst at the same time it expels the air. A portion of this muddy-looking fluid may be transferred to a clean slide, and as the spirit evaporates a drop of balsam may be let fall upon it, and covered with thin glass; or it may be mounted in the ordinary way with glycerine in a shallow cell. A piece of twig may be preserved for years with this fungus upon it, and will be as good as ever.[1] Our figure is magnified 420 diameters.
NOTES ON LOCAL NAMES.
I have often thought that a complete collection of the names by which our British plants and animals are known in country places would be interesting, and would be, besides, not without its utility.
Many of these names are exceedingly pretty,—far prettier than those by which they are generally known,—at any rate in works on Natural History. Some conjure up poetical associations, or remind us of traditions or stories connected with the plants themselves, or point out uses which have, perhaps, now become obsolete. Many local names, too, are no doubt very ancient; some being of Saxon, some of Norse, and others of Celtic origin; and these ancient names would be a very sure means of determining whether the plants which bear them were true natives, or were introduced amongst us, and by whom, in later times.
One fact would be very observable in such a collection, namely, that many different plants are known in different places by the same name; and, no doubt, the same would be true to a certain extent with regard to animals. Thus "Robin run by the hedge" is a name which, I believe, is generally applied to the ground ivy (Glechoma hederacea); but I have heard the same name given to red campion (Lychnis dioica). Harebells, or hairbells, or airbells (Campanula rotundifolia, but which may be the correct English name I have not yet been able to make out) are often called "bluebells," and the same name is frequently applied to the wild hyacinth (Hyacinthus nonscriptus). I am told that in Sussex the greater bindweed (Convolvulus sepium) is called "woodbine," the name which in most places serves to distinguish the honeysuckle (Lonicera), which in Cumberland is called "bindwood"—a name not quite so euphonious as woodbine, but evidently meaning the same, and merely differing in the transposition of its parts. In Chesire "bindweed" means the twining knotgrass (Polygonum convolvulus); but all these plants are characterised by their twining around others for support, and it is only likely that they should have received the same, or very similar names. As a rule, labouring men do not recognise minute differences in plants, and classify much more by similarity of leaves or habit than by resemblance in the flowers; thus many plants that have large coarse leaves are called "docks"—as "burdock;" while, in Cheshire, waterlilies are "flatter-docks" or floating docks. In that county, too, Polygonum amphibium is called ground willow because its leaves are just the shape of willow leaes, and the different kinds of Lamium are everywhere called "dead nettles" only because their leaves are like the leaves of the true or stinging nettle.
A source of error probably exists in this fact of the same name being given to different plants in different places, for it is not at all unlikely that localities have been erroneously recorded for both plants and animals from a confusion of English names. I can quite well remember that for years I mistook the eggs of the black-headed bunting (Emberiza schæniclus) for those of the blackcap warbler (Curuca atricapilla), because some of my schoolfellows who found them were accustomed to hear the black-headed bunting, otherwise red sparrow, called black-cap, whereas I understood by that name a very different bird.
Such mistakes would be very much obviated by some good-natured naturalist taking the trouble- ↑ A limited number of fragments can be supplies to our subscribers on receipt of stamped envelopes.
