68 JOURNAL OF THE [july, 



is to follow the great masters of knowledge. Your reader, who 

 is not a fungologist, without pretending to much that is new, will 

 try to tell in a comprehensible way, the story of what was seen 

 and done in a winter's attention to the sick fishes in his aquaria. 

 Happily, this much can be safely promised: However threatening 

 may be a theme dealing with disease and death among one's 

 pets, our subject shall not be repulsive, though it is true that in 

 such, or kindred pursuits, the inquirer does upon occasion find 

 himself a little tried. 



A very pretty thing is one of these microscopic fungi, and in 

 some roles they are the elfins of goodness. But alas they do 

 sometimes appear as sprites of malevolence ; for how often does 

 the student see them in unlovable situations, almost dampening 

 his devotion with disgust, if not tempting to an outburst of mild 

 profanity. He has mounted a precious rarity in a dry cell. It 

 proves a " sell " that is not dry — but serious. There was just 

 enough moisture in that little air-tight chamber to nourish a 

 mischievous stowaway, a concealed fungus spore, and the rarity 

 is enveloped in a shroud of mold. I recall a scene. I was at 

 my summer retreat, and the obliging postmaster at home had 

 forwarded a little box stamped at letter rates. Boniface Pry 

 followed me to my room against my wish. The opened pack- 

 age contained a dead mouse, killed by a fungus. The stench 

 emitted on opening the box was indescribable, driving my host 

 to the outer door, where, pinching his nostrils with thumb and 

 finger, and mistaking my interest for insensibility, he exclaimed: 

 '•' Can you to-lu-rate that o-di-us smell ? " How singular ! The 

 man's dialect, especially his peculiar prolongation of the vowels 

 suggested a scientific diagnosis. Yes, that fungus which killed 

 the mouse had been pronounced either a Torula, or an Oidium. 

 Previous to the above event, Dr. Leidy had exhibited at a 

 meeting of the Philadelphia Academy of the Natural Sciences a 

 mouse caught in the children's department of the Blocksley 



14:, Ab oosonium, showing the antheridium fertilizing the oospheres. After De Bary. 



15, A broken hypba, showing two cells with the granulation of the protoplasm well 



advanced. It was in these cells that the phenomenon of cyclosis was witnessed. 



16, 17, Curious abnormal forms of sporangise. In 16 the septa is below the elbow, 



and in 17 it is above. 

 18, A branched hypha; below is a small incipient sporangium, and at the apex 

 another, with what seems to be an incipient oogonium at each side. 



In this plate no attention has been given to the magnification. 



