230 FOOTNOTES FROM 



snow-mould recently discovered in Germany, and described 

 by Professor Unger, under the significant name of Lanosa 

 nivalis unlike the former, grows underneath the snow, 

 and in certain seasons is extremely destructive to the 

 grass upon which it is developed. " The years hi which 

 it is most injurious are those when a deep snow sets in 

 without any previous frost, when it sometimes destroys 

 whole crops of corn ; and this is so well known to the 

 farmer, that in such seasons it is customary in certain 

 districts to plough up the hard frozen surface of the 

 snow, occasionally during the winter. The plant is of a 

 very simple structure, consisting of merely branched or 

 jointed threads, whose ultimate lateral branches at 

 length assume a red tinge, and separate at the articula- 

 tions, producing oblong spores. It forms white patches 

 a foot or more in diameter, made up of a number of 

 smaller circular patches ; and when the snow melts on 

 the approach of spring, these assume here and there a 

 red tint, as if dusted with red powder, in consequence of 

 the ripening of the spores. The snow is scarcely melted 

 when the whole disappears, leaving behind a withered 

 plot, which, according to the greater or less vigour or 

 duration of the parasite, is either completely barren, or but 

 slowly resumes its verdure. In some years the mould is 

 so abundant that the crops are completely destroyed, and 

 there is no other remedy than to sow them again." 



Not content with preying upon dead organic matter, 

 or growing plants, some fungi also attack living animals. 

 In this country there are several species of Sphseria and 

 Isaria which grow in garden soil on the larvae and pupae of 

 insects; while others are parasitic on the Elaphomyces gra- 



