160 JBotans 



with the cap. Mushrooms are cultivated in gardens 

 or cellars. They grow from spores and little finger- 

 like lengths, called spawn, which are produced by 

 the spores. Mushrooms turn black or purplish after 

 the first twenty hours of growth. When the gills 

 liave taken this dark hue the mushroom is unfit to 

 eat. 



Some fungi grow in very 'wet places; the woods 

 are likely to be full of them after a few rainy days. 

 Tliey are all short-lived. 



One or two fungi have phosphorus in th'em, and 

 shine in the dark. Fungi are generally parasitic on 

 some underground decay, as they lack leaf-green to 

 assimilate food for themselves. 



While lichens seem to promote the growth of 

 plants upon which they are fastened, fungi generally 

 promote decay and hasten death. The lichen seems 

 to be a link between this class fungi and the algae, or 

 water weeds. 



William Hamilton Gibson is probably the dis- 

 coverer in this country of a very wonderful fungus, 

 which thus far has onl}^ been described by himself in 

 articles in the " Scientific American " and " Harper's 

 Young People." The marvel about this fungus is its 

 carnivorous habit of growth. From his account of 

 the specimen observed we draw our statement. Near 

 the bank of a stream, in a bed of rich green moss, 



