46 MICROSCOPIC FUNGI. 



fifth of Ills " Flora Cantabrigiensis/' and Hudson 

 one-fourtli of Ms ^' Flora Anglica/^ witli tlie Cryp- 

 togamia. At tlie present time^ it "will be seen that^ 

 with a liberal allowance for '^ hair-splitting," the 

 number of British species of flowering plants 

 scarcely exceeds three-fourths of the number of 

 Fungi alone_, not to mention ferns_, mosses, algaB 

 and lichens, and yet we have no "Flora" which 

 contains them, and but a minority of our botanists 

 know anything about them. If we need excuse for 

 directing attention to some of the most interesting 

 of these plants, let the above remarks suffice in lieu 

 of formal apology. 



" Mildew " is just one of those loose terms which 

 represent no definite idea, or a very difierent one 

 to difierent individuals. Talk of mildew to a 

 farmer, and instantly he scampers mentally over 

 his fields of standing com in search of the brown 

 lines or irregular spots which indicate the unwel- 

 come presence of Puccinia graminis, known to liim, 

 and to generations of farmers before him, as " mil- 

 dew." Try to convince a Norfolk farmer that any- 

 thing else is " mildew," and he will consider you 

 insane for your pains. Speak of mildew in your 

 own domestic cu'cle, and inquire of wives, or 

 daughters, or servants, what it means, and without 

 hesitation another, and even more minute species 

 of fungus, which attacks damp hnen, will be indi- 

 cated as the true mildew, to the exclusion of all 

 others ; and with equal claims to antiquity. Go to 



