FUNGI. 235 



no organs. All accounts and all experiences of the 

 bodies of infected insects agree in the fact that, when 

 carried to the point of external development and 

 the production of the stem, the whole body of the 

 insect is replaced by the fungoid mycelium, and 

 therefore no animal life is possible. Hence it is a 

 myth to describe an insect as moving and flying with 

 a cordyceps-iwvi'gw'S, adhering to its body, when all 

 organs of locomotion have ceased to exist. 



All the romance of " vegetable wasps " being re- 

 duced to simple fact, we have nothing left but the 

 parasitism of fungi upon insects, which may assume 

 many forms, and exhibit many variations of structure, 

 but all starting from the infection of living insects 

 with the spores of some previous generation. The 

 forms assumed may be those of the "vegetable 

 wasps," or of the fly-moulds, or of the muscardine 

 of the silk worm, or, lower still, of some microbe ; 

 but the result is the same, in the destruction of 

 the insect. Those persons whose conceptions of 

 fungi are limited to a mushroom, a puff-ball, or 

 a truffle, may possibly be surprised to learn how 

 varied are their forms, and how extended their 

 operations ; but, in none of their phases and in none 

 of their effects are they so marvellous or of such wide- 

 spread interest, as in their parasitic relationship 

 to animal life. This relationship is becoming more 

 manifest every year, and even now we are probably 

 only at the beginning of far greater and more im- 

 portant discoveries in relation to life, health, and 

 disease. 



Before quitting this subject we may allude to the 



