48 The Field Naturalist's Quarterly Feb. 



citizen, who generally has no gun or any murderous pro- 

 clivities, to shoot specified birds or rob their nests, when 

 an owner can destroy any bird on his own land. Special 

 legislation should be made against ornithologists, egg-col- 

 lectors, and such persons as under the cover of science do 

 an infinity of harm to our birds. A country-side, however 

 lovely, would be, without birds, but a lifeless and a mournful 

 paradise. 



The Study of Microfungi. 



By Dr C. Theodore Green, F.L.S. 



It is not unnatural for a medical man to be attracted by 

 a pathological aspect of botany such as the study of micro- 

 fungi affords. 



The purpose of this article is to show how fascinating is 

 the study of these small bodies with the aid of the micro- 

 scope — an instrument which every field naturalist should 

 possess. 



All of the species now dealt with are parasitic in the 

 tissues of living plants, inducing in them well-known dis- 

 eases of cereal and other crops, the vast economic import- 

 ance of which is appreciated by every student of agriculture 

 and horticulture, and which also infect a large number of 

 our wild plants. Many other families of microfungi are 

 saprophytic — i.e., they infest dead or decaying vegetable 

 matter. 



One point in favour of this particular study is the small 

 space taken up by collections. Another advantage is that 

 the study of microfungi is well adapted for ladies, as the 

 processes involved are cleanly and require delicacy of 

 manipulation. The services which the late Miss Ormerod 

 .rendered to agriculture in this connection were very great, 

 and afford a brilliant example of what a woman can do and 

 has done in this branch of research. 



At this time I am dealing with the families of the 

 UsTiLAGiNEiE and the Uredine^e, all of which are para- 

 sitic and not saprophytic at all. 



