BERKELEY^ ON JJRITISH TUNGOLOGY. 307 



cuiTCiicc of mould in tlie inside of bread a few hours after it 

 is baked. This was at one time notoriously the case Avith the 

 coarse 'pain de nutrition/ or barrack-bread^ at Paris. A 

 beautiful red mould appeared in its very centre Avithin an 

 incredibly short space of time. It was^, however, found that 

 the spores of certain fungi Avould bear moist heat equal to 

 that of boiling water without losing their power of germina- 

 tion. They have also considerable powers of resisting frost, 

 but the exact limits in either case under varving circum- 

 stances have not at present been ascertained. 



" The other point is the apparently sudden development of 

 fungous matter on cooked provisions, whether animal or vege- 

 table, in very hot weather. As the fungus thus produced is 

 of a bright blood-red, and often spreads in little jets as 

 spirted from an artery, it has been supposed to arise 

 from a rain of blood. The ])roduction is not, however, so 

 uncouimon as is supposed, and maybe seen almost every year 

 ou some of the larger and more perfect fungi when in a state 

 of decay, though in small (quantities. AVhen in abundance it 

 is very beautiful, and in hot Aveather it may be cultivated 

 nith great ease on rice paste. The growth of these produc- 

 tions is, however, very capricious, and 1 have this autumn in 

 \ aiu attempted to cultivate it, which is the more provoking, 

 as its real attinities and structure are at present very obscure.* 



It may be added, in conclusion, that the fungi Avhich attack 

 animal substances are for the most part far from nice in their 

 choice of a place of groAvth ; but some Avhich produce disease 

 in animals are attached to particular insects, and a few which 

 groAV on decaying hoofs, horns, bones, feathers, avooI, or hairs, 

 are never found in any other situations. Leather for a long 

 time seemed to be exempt from any fungi save the commonest 

 species of mould, but Messrs. Broome and Currey have lately 

 fouud a pretty Ascobohts on this substance Avhen exposed to 

 decay. '^ 



The subject of the propagation of fungi has often been dis- 

 cussed in these pages, and many of our readers may be glad 

 to read in Mr. Berkeley's omu Avords his views on this sub- 

 ject. After speaking of the propagation of fungi by pores and 

 sporidia as homologous Avitli the ])uds of higher plants, he says : 



" Besides these propagative bodies, other extremely minute 

 bodies are produced either on threads or in distinct perithecia 

 or cells in certain fungi, as Bulgaria inquinans, Hysterium 



* Togcllier with tlie blood-rain, gelatinous spots of a bright yellow, blue, 

 pink, gray, white, &c., often appear ou the rice paste, identical in structure 

 with tlic red. The matter which appears on meat in damp weather seems 

 to be similar. The M'hole subject rerpures further investigation. 



