182 MICROSCOPIC FITN T GI. 



vour to go over a large tract of ground. We have 

 spent a whole day in a little chalkpit, which had 

 fallen into disuse, and grown wild. Fifty yards 

 into a wood is as much as we attempt, when alone ; 

 and a spot six yards square has afforded us occu- 

 pation for hours. It is better to examine a small 

 space thoroughly than to scamper on, mile after 

 mile, and find nothing. 



When ? is as much to be noted as where ! All 

 the year round we shall be sure of finding some- 

 thing of interest. As soon as the last patch of 

 winter's snow has melted from the ground, and 

 green leaves begin to unfold themselves, the search 

 may begin. Cluster-cups (JEcidium) will be the 

 earliest forms encountered. On the leaves of 

 Lapsana communis, and the pilewort, these will 

 be found before the majority of plants have burst 

 their buds. Henceforth, other forms will gradually 

 appear, until May or June. One or two species of 

 Puccinia will be seen in April or May, but from 

 that period until autumn, species of THchobasis 

 will be common. In June and July the smuts 

 belonging to the genus Ustilago are most plen- 

 tiful, and from August to October Puccinia and its 

 allied genera will have the ascendant ; so that from 

 March to October there is continually succeeding 

 each other some species of parasitic fungus belong- 

 ing to the Uredines. From October to March need 

 be no more a season of repose from the search of 

 these minute plants than from March to October. 



