 Crop circle researcher Jim Schnabel does not consider it to be a historical precedent because it describes the stalks as being cut rather than bent (see folklore section).In 1686, British naturalist Robert Plot reported on rings or arcs of mushrooms (see fairy rings) in "The Natural History of Stafford-Shire" and proposed air flows from the sky as a cause.In 1991 meteorologist Terence Meaden linked this report with modern crop circles, a claim that has been compared with those made by Erich von Däniken.