TOADSTOOLS AND THEIR KINDRED. 135 



and moisture to burst into independent life. Myriads of the minute 

 germs of moulds fasten upon various domestic articles, or dance about 

 in the air-currents of our apartments, moving rapidly up and down 

 and in every direction. The raicroscopist and the chemist have de- 

 monstrated the existence of these germs in greater or less quantity in 

 the air of both country and town, out-of-doors as well as in-doors ; 

 and Prof. Tyndall by calling in the aid of optical analysis has, on this 

 point, made assurance doubly sure. If we venture for a moment to 

 imagine the overwhelming number of seeds which the different species 

 of fungi must disseminate in the course of a single year if we 

 consider that each individual of the common puff-ball contains up- 

 ward of ten million seeds, and these so small as to form a mere cloud 

 when puffed into the air; and that a single filament of the mould 

 which infests our bread and preserves will produce as many germs as 

 an oak will acorns, so that a piece of decaying matter, not two inches 

 square, will scatter upon the air, at the slightest breath of the summer 

 breeze or the gentlest touch of an insect's wing, as many seeds, quick 

 with life, as all the oaks of the country will produce acorns in a twelve- 

 month if we take these things into consideration, it is not too much 

 to suppose that the seeds of fungi must be ubiquitous, and from their 

 excessively miiuite size penetrate into every place, even into the 

 stomachs and other parts of animals. Indeed, the difiiculty seems to 

 be to imagine a spot without them." 



But, in looking up the relatives of the mushroom, we have been 

 led too far away from the study of its structure. Recurring to the 

 species with which we began our study, and a cluster of which, at 

 different stages of growth, is represented in Fig. 3, let us inspect it 

 once more, and make sure that we have a clear notion of all its parts. 

 Observe the mycelium at the base, the stem, the unbroken volva in the 

 young ones, the beginning of its rupture in a more advanced stage, 

 and, finally, at the end of growth, the fully-developed cap, with its 

 gills, and the ring left by the volva upon the stem. After this ac- 

 count of its structure, its specific description should be quite intelli- 

 gible to anybody, and ought to suffice for the ready recognition of the 

 living plant. It is as follows : 



Cai^ fleshy, either smooth or scaly ; its color is white, or tawny, 

 or smoke-colored, or brown ; gills free, when first formed pale, then 

 changing to flesh-color, then to pink, next to purjjle, and, at length, 

 tawny-black ; stem white, full, firm, varying in shape, with a white 

 persistent ring. Spores brown-black ; volva quickly disappearing. 

 In his recent work an " Fungi and their Uses," C-'ooke says of this 

 plant that the color of the spores and gills, and the presence of the 

 ring, are characters that never vary, but tlie color and scaliness of 

 the cap, and other minor features, are variable ; and, furthermore, he 

 enjoins that it must not be sought in the woods. Its proper season is 

 September and October. 



