Thallogens.] 



FUNGALES. 



39 



Polyporus fomentarius has been artificially produced in Gemiany, but merely by 

 placing wood in a favourable situation, and keeping it well moistened. Five or six 

 crops were obtained in the year. {Rom. and Uster. Mag. iv. p. 182.) 



A curious species which grows on the hvmg branches of the South American beeches, 

 and which has been described by Mr. Berkeley m the Transactions of the Linnean 

 Society, under the name of Cyttaria Darwinii, forms a principal part of the food of the 

 natives of Tierra del Fuego during many months of the year. 



Fungi are much used in Australia by the natives, especially of the genus Boletus. 

 The large tiiiffle Myhtta australis. Berk., which attains a weight of more than two 

 pounds, is kno\vn under the name of native bread. The marsupial animals are particu- 

 larly fond of Fungi, and some species they hunt for so greedily, devouring them before 

 they burst tlu'ough the earth, that it is very difficult to obtain a well-grown specimen. 



Mr. Backhouse also informs us that Fungi are much used by the natives. Two to 

 which he particulai'ly alludes are probably Poh-porus portentosus, Berk., a species which 

 could only be eaten in the absence of all other food, and a species of Cyttaria hitherto 

 unrecorded by botanists. 



One or two species are used in medicine. Spheeria sinensis. Berk., described in Hook, 



Lond. Journ. of Bot., is a celebrated remedy 

 amongst the Cliinese, and is much praised in 

 Du Halde's book, but probably without reason. 



Many Fungi were admitted into the old Phar- 

 macopoeias, as Exidia auricula Judse, Pol^^porus 

 officmahs, Tremella mesenterica, but at present 

 they are httle if at all used. 



Lysmnis mokusin is considered by the Chinese 



as an excellent remedy m gangrenous ulcers. It 



?s is also eaten, but is often poisonous. The jelly -hke 



volva of the nearly allied genus Ileodictyon is eaten 



in New Zealand. 



Ergot of rye is well known for its specific 

 action on the uterus, and is in consequence one of 

 the most valuable remedies of the modern Phar- 

 macopoeia. It is, however, said to be uncertain. 

 It is mihappily no less notorious for the dread- 

 ful effects it produces on the human frame 

 *^ when it exists in considerable quantities in 

 1 bread-corn, causmg the most terrible ulcers and 

 ; gangi-enes, which at length destroy the limbs. 

 5 Similar effects have been experienced from the use 

 of mouldy provisions. Intei'esting details on the 

 \ subject will be found in Burnett's Outhnes, and in 

 \ Professor Henslow's Report on the Diseases of 

 '■^ Wheat, in the Journal of the Royal Society of 

 Agricultm-e, 1841, vol. ii. part 1. Copious details 

 will also be found in Phoebus's Deutschlands Crj-p- 

 togamische Gewachse. On the real nature of 

 Ergot Smith and Quekett's JNIemoir, Lum. Tr. 

 x\iii. p. 452, 3, and xix. p. 1 37, should be consulted. 

 Corda has lately confirmed the observations of 

 Messrs. Smith and Quekett; and more recently a Memoh- on the subject has been 

 published by Fe'e. 



Of parasitical Fungi, the most important are those which are called dry rot, such as 

 Poh-porus destructor, Merulius lacrjTnans and vastator, &c., which are the pest 

 of wooden constmctions : next to these come the bUght in corn, occasioned by 

 Puccinia grammis ; the smut and ergot, if they are really anything more than the dis- 

 eased and disorganised tissue of the plants affected; the iiist, which is owing to the 

 ravages of Uredos and Puccmife ; and finally, in this class is to be mcluded what we 

 call mildew, minute simple articulated Mucors, and ^lucedos. The effects of different 

 moulds on bread, preserves, &c., are but too well known. In some cases, however, 

 as ui cheese, provisions are thought to be improved by them. The decay ot tnut, 

 according to the observations of Mr. Hassall, appears to be in great measure pro- 

 duced by them. The genus Rhizomorpha (which it may be observed is a spurious 

 genus, consistmg of imperfectly developed Sph^erite, Polypori, &c.) vegetates in 

 dark mmesfar fi'om the fight of day, and is remarkable for its phosphorescent proper- 

 Fig. XXIV.*-SphKria sinensis. The right hand figure represents the manner in which it is made 

 up for sale. 



^-^^^ 



Fig. XXIV.* 



