equally calculated to mislead inexperience sometimes takes place in other funguses, particularly in various 

 species of Boletus : we have seen B. scaler clothed entirely in white velvet, and other kinds with their tubes 

 so completely occupied by the briUiant Sepedonium cJtrT/sosjicrmitm that difficulty arose in convincing a 

 cursory observer, albeit one of our liighest authorities so far as phsenogamous plants are concerned, that tliis 

 was only the usurpation of a destroj-ing agency. It is an admirable pro\asion of nature, which thus clothes 

 the unseemliness of decay in new beauty ; converting that which has lost all attraction into a nidus for 

 fresh ])roductions, and these perhaps stiU more exquisite in design and development, in wonderful finisli 

 and minute detail, than the original plant which by its juices nurtured tliem. Many mildews and bhghts 

 are very pretty microscopic objects, and some lessons of value may be learned from the study of them ; 

 for instance, that they have characters so distinctive, that although we grant them to be pests, they are no 

 more convertible into one another than gooseberry caterpillars into snails. The Berberry cannot commu- 

 nicate its own specific diseases to corn ; ^cidium berberidis, a beautiful vase built up of yellow spores, 

 forming distinct spots on the leaves, or Erysiphe penicillata, a white net-work investing them and sup- 

 porting many little balls fperidiolaj, which to the naked eye appears like mealy powder thrown over the 

 shrub, does not attack corn in the totally different forms the blights of that useful plant assume. Smut, 

 Uredo seyetum or Vredo caries, Bunt. So, ploughman, spare those elegant bushes of Berberry, they have 

 never injured your crops, and never will ; if you shake youi- head, setting up " old experience " against 

 modern theory, look through our magic lens, and be convinced. We have thus cured one gardener more 

 firm in his faith in ancient prejudices than any person we ever knew, and who, although in true Kentish 

 spirit he still retains some he would go to the stake for, holds very enlightened notions on blights, dry-rot, 

 and potato-disease. . 



Is Agaricus rutilus good for anjiihing ? Probably not, according to the vulgar idea, that is, good 

 for man, any more than the lovely minute funguses we have mentioned ; but all feed insects. 



