290 FUNGI. 



and other insects are preyed upon by other members of 

 the order. 



The Oideum group contains some important members. 

 The Mould of the pear and of the orange (0. fructigenum 

 and fastigiatum) and that of the grape are well known. 

 The last named is thus described by Mr. Harris : — 

 " Grapes, when blighted, are covered with what appears 

 to be a white powder, like lime, a little darkened with 

 brown or yellow. This powder, being a collection of 

 fungi, sends forth laterally, in all directions, thread-like 

 filaments, which become so completely interwoven with 

 one another as entirely to cover and enclose the skin of 

 the grape in a compact and firm network, and on each is 

 seen the egg-shaped capsule or seed-pod." 



Recent discoveries in medicine and anatomy have 

 convinced physicians that fungi bear a considerable share 

 in the diseases which attack the human frame. Ring- 

 worm is caused by the germination of a fungus upon the 

 skin (Oideum porriginis) ; and during the time of the 

 cholera visitation in 1854, the Rev. G. Osborne collected 

 many microscopic fungi from the air, and smaller ones 

 have been detected arising; from foul drains. 



The vinegar plant is also a thread fungus (Mycoderma 

 aceti). Mr. Slack describes it as "a tough leathery moss, 

 often used by private families to make vinegar out of 

 solutions of sugar and treacle. If a thin piece of the 

 large, tough vinegar plant is examined microscopically, a 

 moderate power suffices to show an unorganized jelly 

 and cellular structure of many shapes, often resembling 

 coherent cells of yeast, others being like Oideum. It is 



