221 
FUNGOLOGICAL DIFFICULTIES, 
By THE Rey. J. E. Vize. 
No person can ever commence the study of fungi, or its near relations in 
science without expecting to find difficulties ahead, and those of no slight kind. 
And those difficulties for a considerable time increase, until a substratum is laid 
on which work may be commenced with a certain feeling that every addition to 
knowledge is one point gained towards dispelling the cruel thickness that seemed 
to be in front of the work. It has been a source of surprise to me more than once 
to find men who get warm within themselves and feel a sort of elasticity of spirits 
when they get from a friend a little insight into the splendid way in which the 
Great God has created the lower forms of vegetable life, and yet they drop off all 
atonce. You may hear of them as enthusiasts for a time, you see their names in 
print, and although alive they are no more even as amateurs to be heard of. They 
are dead to fungoid life, and nothing like so serviceable as the dried specimen in 
the herbarium. In this respect the student of Cryptogamic life shows poorly by 
the side of the student of Phanerogamic life, the latter gains more in proportion 
to the former, in other words, let ten young men begin flowering plants, most of 
them will keep to their recreation, probably none will entirely give itup. But 
where will you get ten students to stick through thick and thin to plants, many of 
which are not to be appreciated without considerable magnifying power? Few of 
which have gorgeous colors to attract the eye and fix the thought upon their 
glories? All of which begin to be learned by sheer hard work aided no doubt in 
many instances by natural taste for them, nevertheless never helped from infancy 
upwards by the line upon line principle. A child is allured by the tints of flowers 
and their smell, and knows without trouble to itself a primrose from a violet, a 
cabbage from a box tree or hollyhock. But it is not so with cryptogamic life. If 
Agaricus Campestris were not an article of merchandise and moreover nice as a 
dish and good for making ketchup, I suppose not a single fungus would be known 
to the general multitude of men and women, and even with Agaricus Campestris 
how puzzled people get with some of the varieties, testing them with salt and 
having sundry misgivings for fear they should make a mistake and be poisoned. 
Difficulties there are then by nature of unusual greatness, and they increase for a 
time. Flowers fascinate, fungi and allies do not allure onwards. Besides a 
phanerogamic botanist has vastly more friends to whom he can appeal in a diffi- 
culty, vastly more botanical works he can consult. Look by the side of him at the 
fungologist, so few men are there who have gone through the years and years of 
study and become standards of appeal that there is a shrinking back from troubling 
them. I know this must and does and will exist largely, not that on the part of 
the person consulted there is likely to be entertained any other idea than that he 
is glad to give any help in his power. Still the feeling does come that a severe 
trespass is being made upon valuable time, that there will be few things quite new 
