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Old Nettle Stems and their Micro-Fungi. 

 By M. C. Cooke, M.A. 



As children once burnt have a wholesome dread of the fire, so 

 children once stung have, for a time at least, a wholesome dread of 

 the nettle. It would be some consolation to the school-boy, just 

 smarting from the consequences of an unlucky fall into a bed of 

 nettles, to know that alive or dead the nettle has a complete host 

 of enemies, blighting it whilst living, and preying upon it in decay. 

 To children of more mature age it may not be without interest to 

 be informed of some of the foes of the nettle, which thrive at the 

 expense of its dead and decaying stems. "We are not aware that 

 anything of the kind has been attempted, and despite the objec- 

 tions of those who advocate a more strictly scientific method, we will 

 collect together a few observations on certain microscopic fungi 

 having a common habitat, so that for this occasion the bond of 

 union will not be one of structural relationship, but that of one 

 common home. 



It has often been objected by novices that however beautiful and 

 instructive the minute fungi may be, they don't know where to seek 

 them, or when found to determine their names without some con- 

 siderable previous knowledge. There is much of truth in this, or 

 we had not made this little experiment on the popular side of a 

 rather dry and difficult study. 



Assuming the desire on the part of the student to gain some 

 knowledge of fungoid life, and that he has provided himself with 

 a copy of the " Handbook " for reference as to the position, re- 

 lationship, and technical characters of the species to be here des- 

 cribed, little more is required save the microscope, the pocket lens, 

 and a bed of old nettle stems in a damp situation. With these 

 provisions a few weeks of good work is sure to follow, especially if 

 pursued in the early spring, and with a resolute determination. It 

 is not our intention to include any of the species which are para- 

 sitic on the green plants, but those only that develope themselves 



