Boyal Microscopical Society. 155 



known respecting fungoid development in insects, ■wood and other 

 bard substances. 



I may here note that Johannes Miiller thought he had dis- 

 covered another cryptogamic form of the genus Peziza in the cases 

 which came under his observation. This moot point has been dis- 

 cussed by M. Spring and Professor Eobin. From what I have seen in 

 the three birds, Eobin's demonstration of the supposed Peziza being 

 only circular spots of basement or false membrane, upon which 

 matrix the mycehum of Aspergillus is borne, appears the correct 

 view. In my own case I easily recognized a pelhcle of fibrinous 

 exudation with the characters attributed and carefully figured by 

 Deslongchamps. 



The interest at present attached to cryptogamic developments 

 as a source of disease, has given rise to much discussion on the 

 Continent ; and in this country, along with the theory of spontaneous 

 generation, almost a hterature of its own.* 



It is not my intention to enlarge on the pathological aspect of 

 the present cases, but the impression left on my mind is that to the 

 development and fructification of the Mucedines the death of the 

 birds may be attributed, inasmuch as the specific lesion was due to 

 their presence. But I couple as a proviso my impression that an 

 antecedent state of the system admitted of the development of the 

 fungus. 



To those who doubt the capabilities of fungoid growths in active 

 vital parts, solid and otherwise, I would advise them carefully to 

 study Eobin's chapter v, (Z. c, p. 278), " Action Exercicee par le 

 Vegetal sur 1' Animal ;" to be convinced that the so-called Mycetoma 

 (Madura, or Fungus-foot of India) is quite within the range of 

 possibility, irrespective of primary putrefactive process. 



Dr. Leidy, no mean observer, on discovering many new epi- 

 phytic forms, says,t with justice, — that we have entophyta in luxu- 

 rious growth within living animals, without affecting their health ; 

 yet at the same time he admits that there are cryptogamia capable 

 of producing and transmitting disease, as in the case of musca- 

 ridine, &c. 



P.S. — Prof. W. T. Thistleton Dyer has lately drawn my atten- 

 tion to the Eeports on Botany, Eay Soc, 1846, p. 424, where it ia 

 mentioned a Scaup Duck, Ftdigula marila, Linn., had mucor or 

 blue mould in the lungs and membranes.^ Other cases I have 

 quoted are also referred to in the Eeport {I. c). 



* I need here but refer to Prof. Huxley's Address, Brit. Assoc, Liverpool, 

 1869; Prof. Lionel Beale's 'Protoplasm,' liis 'Disease Germs,' 1870; and Dr. 

 Bastian's ' Modes of Origin of Lowest Organisms,' and ' The Beginnings of Life,' 

 1871, as typical of -what I mean. 



t * Proe. Piiilad. Acad.,' 1848-9, vol. iv., pp. 228, 229. 



X Yarrell, in 'Ann. Nat. Hist.,' vol. ix., p. 131. 



