362 ON THE STUDY OF MICRO-FUNGI. 



the remarks nor the opinions of those who, as he would say, knew 

 nothing about fungi. His perseverance was rewarded by the dis- 

 covery of many species which had not previously been found. 

 He was ever ready to have a chat with kindred spirits, and to try 

 to influence others to take an active interest in a study which had 

 afforded so much pleasure and enjoyment to himself No stranger 

 who visited his rooms and evinced any interest in the specimens 

 would depart without first having seen his collection of micro- 

 fungi, and more particularly his collection of those micro-fungi 

 which grow upon living plants, and we know that those who took 

 his advice to bestow a little attention on this comparatively neg- 

 lected study have received an ample reward for their trouble. 



Now, it is to this latter-named branch of mycology that we wish 

 specially to draw attention in this paper, and we will try to show that 

 the domain of micro-fungi is not such an uninviting and desert 

 land as it might at first sight appear. The honey-bee finds in 

 the modest-looking clover more of the sweetness of which it is 

 in search than in the brilliantly painted foxglove ; and many 

 insects and animals find a more congenial abode on plants of a 

 very humble and unattractive character than on many of those 

 which are most highly esteemed by man. In the same way, there- 

 fore, as an insect may prefer to live upon a common nettle rather 

 than upon the Rose of Sharon, so there are men who, in making a 

 choice of some branch of study as their own speciality, prefer to 

 pass over the more prominent and fashionable fields of research, 

 and to settle down in a comparatively obscure corner. There is 

 doubtless a certain novelty and charm in a choice which leads one 

 out of the hard-beaten track, and away from the busy crowd of 

 observers, into a less-populated country, where there are yet many 

 things to be discovered. 



Thomas Carlyle remarks that the Torch of Science has 

 been brandished and borne about with more or less effect for 

 5,000 years and upwards, and that " in these times not only the 

 Torch still burns, and perhaps more fiercely than ever ; but nnu- 

 merable Rushlights and Sulphur Matches kindled thereat are 

 also glancing in every direction, so that not the smallest cranny or 

 doghole in Nature or Art can remain unilluminated." Though 

 almost every cranny now obtains a share in the general illumina- 



