278 



FOOTNOTES FROM 



of black mildews. Few objects, it may be remarked, are 

 more beautiful under the microscope than the wheel- 

 shaped, ray-like processes which radiate from the seed- 

 bearing organs. These sporiferous bodies, sometimes 

 contain a perfect miniature plant or embryo, similar to 

 that of flowering plants, which waits only circumstances 

 favourable for its expansion. Another allied species, 

 called Fusarium mori, is produced in such abundance on 

 the leaves of the mulberry, in Syria and China, as 

 materially to diminish the supply of food provided for 

 the silk-worm. 



But it is not only in food and luxuries that man 



FIG. 41. MERULIUS LACHRYMANS. 



suffers from the ravages of fungi ; he also suffers in his 

 property. Builders have painful knowledge of one or 

 two species, known under the common name of dry-rot. 

 This most destructive plague is usually caused in this 

 country by the Mendius lachrymans (Fig. 41). It oc- 

 curs on the inside of wainscoting, in the hollow trunks 

 of trees, in the timber of ships, and in the floors and 



