^August, 1859.] 225 



CHAPTEES ON FUNGI. 



By Archibald Jerdon. 



CHAPTEE I. 



Mycology does not, at first sight, appear a very agreeable or 

 attractive study, as Fungi — at least sucli plants as are popularly 

 known by that name — are, especially when in a state of decay, 

 hot very pleasant objects. Fungi however are not always the 

 disagreeable-looking things which we are in the habit of asso- 

 ciating with Mushrooms and Toadstools ; but, on the contrary, 

 in very many instances beautiful and interesting productions of 

 Nature. 



Those who have not had their attention turned to the subject, 

 can have no idea of the vast variety and multiplicity of forms 

 of vegetable life contained in the class of plants comprehended 

 under the general name of Fungi, and we are introduced into a 

 new world, as it were, when the study is commenced. 



Though generally the accompaniments of decay or disease in 

 the substances on which they grow, and probably in some in- 

 stances the causes of such decay or disease, Fungi are often very 

 beautiful objects, especially the minuter kinds, such as the small 

 Pezizce, Spharia, etc., and some of the nobler genera, as Agaricus, 

 Boletus, etc., exhibit forms of great beauty and variety. 



They differ greatly in size, from the mighty Lycoperdon gigan- 

 teum, which sometimes attains a diameter of two or three feet, to 

 the minute crimson dots known as Sph(Bria episph(Bria, which 

 are barely visible to the unassisted eye, or to the Mould which 

 appears to the naked eye as a thin crust or film. 



They present also great variety in shape and substance. Some 

 resemble an umbrella with its handle and spokes ; others are 

 cup-shaped, with or without a stalk ; some are club-shaped, and 

 others again appear as little round bodies of various colours and 

 arranged in various ways ; some are hard and woody in textm-e ; 

 others soft and gelatinous ; others of a waxy consistence ; and 

 others, again, thin and coriaceous. Some consist almost entirely 

 of the spores or reproductive bodies, while in others these form 

 the least part of the plant. 



In duration too they vary much, some lasting for many 

 months, while others, as the delicate Agaricus ephemerus, scarcely 



N. S. VOL. III. 2 G 



