12 MICROSCOPIC FUNGI. 



and Gravesend. The spores in this species are 

 orange, and externally it bears considerable re- 

 semblance to the goatsbeard cluster-cup, but the 

 spores are rather smaller and paler, the teeth 

 are less distinct and persistent, the subiculum is 

 more thickened, and the peridia are more densely 

 crowded. 



There is another group of species belonging to 

 the same genus of fungi in which the arrange- 

 ment of the peridia is different. One of the first 

 of our native wild flowers, in making its appear- 

 ance after the departure of frost and snow, is the 

 little yellow celandine (Ranunculus ficaria) . 



" Ere a leaf is on the bush, 

 In the time before the thrush 

 Has a thought about her nest, 

 Thou wilt come with half a call, 

 Spreading out thy glossy breast 

 Like a careless Prodigal ; 

 Telling tales about the sun 

 When we've little warmth, or none." 



And one of the earliest parasitic fungi in spring is 

 an JEcidium which flourishes on its glossy leaves. 

 So common is JEcidium ranunculacearum on this 

 species of Ranunculus, that it can scarcely have 

 escaped the eye of any one who has taken the 

 trouble to examine the plant. It appears in patches 

 on the under-surface of the leaves or on their 

 petioles, in the latter case swelling and distorting 

 them. Sometimes these patches are nearly cir- 

 cular, at others of very irregular form, and varying 



