;>1() SLACK, ON rOND LIJ i;. 



simply putting tlicm upon a slip of glass under an air-tight 

 bell-glass. In cases where they do not germinate, there is 

 some fault in general either in the temperature or degree of 

 moisture; or sometimes because mere water is not sufficient, 

 without an admixture of sugar or some other organic matter. 

 Many s])ceies of mould may he raised very easily upon paste 

 nuide with ground rice under a bell-glass, and some fungi may 

 be brought to perfection on rotten Avood in the same condi- 

 tion. The well-knoAvn ergot may be induced to produce its 

 very curious perfect form (pi. 23, fig. 7), by simply sowing 

 the infected grains in a garden-pot, and avoiding extremes of 

 dryness or moisture."^ Fjxen some of the species which are 

 parasites on living leaves may be propagated either by direct 

 sowing of the spores on the young leaves, or watering the 

 soil in which the plant proposed to bear the parasite grows, 

 as in the case of the yellow I'ose rust, Avith Avater in Avhich 

 infected leaves have been duly steeped." 



The Introduction is full of interesting matter on the sub- 

 jects to Avhicli wc have alluded. We heartily Avish the present 

 volume a successful sale, so that we may hope to see the 

 author encouraged to produce an equally interesting volume 

 on the microscopical forms of British fungi. No one knows 

 so much about them as he does, and it is really a disgrace to 

 the boasted intelligence of our age that the knowledge which 

 men have acquired by great labour and peculiai- genius should 

 not be disseminated, for the want of a gOAcrnment or a public 

 to appreciate the value of their Avork. 



Marvels of Pond Lift' ; or, a Year's Microscopic Recreations. 

 By Hp:\ry J. Slack. London : Groorabridge. 



'e^ 



Mr. Slack has kept a diary of his observations with the 

 microscope, and has dared to publish the result. We say 

 "^ dared,^^ because we think it required a little courage on his 

 part to publish a scries of observations Avhich many persons 

 more competent than himself Avould have shrunk from. Yet 

 the beginner Avith the microscope Avill be grateful to Mr. 



* Mr. Curiey lias induced tlie ergot of the common reed to fniclify by 

 ki fpiug jlic stem immersed in M'atrv. 



