I N T R o D y c T I o N.
S u a S i ^ i f 6 i ! i * i f • • rugged with ibales/ or other inequalities,
jf rugged, fay, whether the matter is of the fame fubilanee
» • H fr°m U S or is of a different 1 M l
to the pileus by means of a-glutin, or otherwift, and note the colour of
o u t " X t r - r " 1 ' ^ furfaCe H • M how 1 feels to the
touch; whether clammy or dry, whether like cloth, iilk, velvet leather wa 1 |B e,fe; note-Bi MMMWMI
S H an d , C o W S B I whether foft and fibrous, or hard
.nd brittle, whether ,diffolving or withering in decay, and note whaf
mutations, of colour take place on its furface, f romi ' e firft
above ground to the utter decay of the plant.. . "
t o M a P f l M C° m p 0 f e t h e B H were formerly fuppofed
to be of e^uvocal generation, the fport of Nature, the effed of Put -
fa&on, or the brood of Chance, but that they owe their original to the feeds
ot a parent plant, is now well known, having been,proved by MICHELU
xn a work entitled NovaPlantarum Genera, publiihed at Florence, in M
in folio, with many excellent figures, by D I I ( £ . W I W ; i, his. Cad^s '
? Z » 7 1 T fe n J i S > P U b l i A e d at • • I in 1719, by GLEDITSCII
in his ~Methodus Fungorum, publiihed at Berlin, in ,753 , byBATTARA
'in his Fungorum agn ariminanfls Hijioria, .printed in 4to, at Rimini in
J f p . I l a] 1 b y i h e B I H whp in a work entitled
Hytoria Generations et FruSfiJicationes Plant arum Cryptogamicarum, printed
m 4 t 0 at Petropoh, in 178-4, has- by means of the Microfcope proved
beyond difpute' the exigence of iiamin and ftile, or of male and female "
organs in thefe, as perfed: as-regular, and effedive in-the production of
proper feeds, as in any other vegetable, where they are more obvious to
our fight, his obfervations are illuftrated by figures, accurately engrayed
and coloured, from his own drawings. See bis w-ork, plate 34, ¿1 76
27, andfrom,figure19,5 to 214. '
Some obfervations may be made in regard to conftancy of place, "in the
plants of this order. The Agaricus integer, vilkfus,. purpureas, &c. tht Boletus
luteus, and bo-mnus, the Clathrus n.udus. and denudatus, I have conftantly
obferved
I N T R O D U C T I O N. xv
obferved to make their appearance .at rheir refpedive fe-afons, in one and
" the fame place,—on the contrary, the Agaricus elephantinus grew abundantly
in the Shroggs, and feveral other woods about Halifax, in October,
17865 this prefent yeai;, 1787, I have not found more than one or two
plants of it.
In the year 1785, the Peziza cormicopoides came up abundantly in one
place, in the lait-named wood, but has not fince grown there.
In September, 1777, thè Halvella. mitra, grew-plentifully in feveral
Woods, in hedges, under trees, and even in paftures and meadows, in this
neighbourhood ; arid fince then, in the fpace of ten years, though my refearches
have been regularly kept up, I have not met with more than three
or four fpecimens of that rare plant.
, Thefe obfervations" bring to my mind others of a like nature, which
I have formerly made'-on the fugacity of fome infeéts, viz. the Painted
Lady Butterfly, (Papilio Gardui, of LINNAEUS) was foplentiful about Halifax,
in 1780, thatficarce afield was.without them, in fields where flowering
plants grew, particularly thz.Scabiofafuccifa,. and Trifolium'pratenfe, it
was- eafy, with a.common bag net, to catch ten or fifteen fpecimens in the
fpace of, an hour or two , but fince that time, or for ten yeais before, that
mfect has been very rarely,; or not at all. feen In this part of Yorkjhire.
The like remarks hold gopd, in a leifer degree, -in refpeét to the Papilio
atalanta, phalczna meticulof, &c. and to fome Birds, viz. the Lanius
collurto, Loxia recurvirojlra, Turdus ti/rquatus, &c.
Some fpecies' of' Fungi are perennial and abiding, as the Spharia tuÒercutop
. others, though they die and fall away annually, have an abiding
pr perennial root, as the Sphceria bypoxyhn.
The Phallus impudicus, a rare plant here, I have obferved to grow three
iuccéiiive years, in. the fame hand's breadth of ground, though I took up
the