288 FUNGI. 



in thick patches, and when each has opened its starry 

 lid the blotch looks like honeycomb under a lens. The 

 Mountain Willow-herb, so abundant in the York woods, 

 is often dotted with especial iEcidium, and in this species 

 the plants grow singly. The Wood Spurge covering the 

 Herefordshire hills with its sunny foliage, exhibits another 

 species of iEcidium, the especial retainer of the Spurge 

 family. Surely when we examine these plants, so 

 marvellous in the beauty of their structure, the extreme 

 minuteness of their size, and the inconceivable number of 

 their individuals, we shall no longer despise Dust fungi, 

 but rather say with the poet, 



" God made us, as he made things all, 

 In perfect beauty, tho' so small. 

 Take a lens, you'll see we're not 

 Despised as blight or Mildew spot, 

 But Smut and Canker find a place 

 Amid the ■varied fungus race." 



The class succeeding that of the Dust fungi, is 

 characterized by the predominance of threads, and is 

 therefore called Hyphomycetes or Thread fungi. 



The plants of the first order, (Isariacei), are parasitic on 

 twigs, dead flowers, fungi, and insects. Other groups 

 follow their species, forming dark coloured specks on 

 decaying stems, bark, and leaves, presenting little variety 

 of interest except when examined with the microscope. 



The order of Moulds (Mucedines) have interest enough, 

 both from the extreme beauty of their structure, and the 

 important part they play in the life of man. 



