520 THE MUSHROOM FAMILY. 



2. Slender Chara — {Nitella flexilis). 

 Stagnant waters, rather rare. Ponds near White Moss. Ponds at 

 Baguley. Chorlton fields. (Mr. Sidebotham.) 



E. B. XV. 1070. 

 Probably not distinct from the precetling. 



3. Common Fcetid Chara — {^Chara vulgaris). 

 Muddy stagnant ditches and pools, common. Pond near Dunham 

 Hall. (Mr. Knight.) Pond at the foot of Prestwich Dells. 



E. B. V. 330. 



4. Prickly Chara — {Chara hispida). 

 In pools and clay-pits, not uncommon. 

 E. B. vii. 463. 

 Probably only a variety of the preceding. 



Withering mentions Chara tomentosa as growing in " peat ditches in Lanca- 

 shire." The whole family needs the investigation of Manchester botanists. 



CLTX.— THE MUSHROOM FAMILY. Fungi. 



The Fungi, like the Lichens, are composed wholly of cellular tissue, 

 but instead of being for the most part dry, and leafy or filamentous, their 

 substance is usually sponge-like or pulpy. Objects, with most people, 

 of prejudice and disgust (the mushroom, and two or three other eatable 

 species alone excepted), they are plants often of remarkable beauty, and 

 in their structure and functions in the economy of nature worthy our 

 most attentive consideration. At first sight, it is true, there is little 

 that can be called attractive in a toadstool, a puff-ball, or a tuft of 

 mildew, but a short acquaintance soon places the family in a very 

 different light, and renders it scarcely less interesting than flowers. 

 In their simplest form the Fungi consist only of minute articulated 

 filaments, as in the case of the mildew plants. The maximum is in 

 those splendid round, richly-painted tables and cones, elevated on 

 pillars of ivory, called Agarics, and which in autumn so beautifully 

 embellish our woods and fields. The grotesque yet elegant shapes and 

 the brilliant hues of the Fungi are almost beyond recounting. Some 

 are fashioned like Chinese parasols ; some are concave, and resemble 

 vases and goblets ; others present broad, circular, convex or flattened 

 shields, several inches across, and often with a beautiful dimple in the 

 centre, and in colour, of a uniform fine red, yellow, or purple, or ift 



