I2O THE WOODLANDS. 



species of fungi, some of them so minute that they 

 cannot be seen by the naked eye, species of 

 Sph(zria> of minute Peziza, or of Phacidium or 

 Discosia, and many others, fully to comprehend 

 which the- microscope must be employed, when it 

 will not be impossible to detect as many as a 

 thousand individual fungi, each complete and perfect 

 in itself, and containing more than a hundred spores,, 

 and all growing upon a single dead oak-leaf. The 

 more closely and more intimately we examine these 

 minute species by the aid of a microscope, the more- 

 are we astonished at the wonderful work. A small 

 Peziza no larger than a pin's point, with cup and 

 stem covered with delicate hairs, has a perfect repro- 

 ductive system, asa, sporidia, and all its organization 

 as complete as in the large specimens we may have 

 gathered from the soil, and measuring from three to 

 four inches in diameter. 



Not only the leaves, but nearly every dead twig,, 

 rotten stick, stem of herb, tuft of grass, has its para- 

 site, its little fungus flourishing upon its decay. 

 Whether in the garden, the orchard, or the wood,, 

 one is sure to see little twigs, covered with pink pus- 

 tules, bursting through the bark, and standing up 

 like little knobs, not so large as a grain of mustard- 

 seed. This is one of the most common of minute 

 fungi, 1 and its history is elaborate and instructive. 

 Yet this is only one of hundreds of minute fungi 

 furnished by the dead twigs of trees and shrubs of 

 all kinds, so that we are justified in saying that for 

 every large fungus which the unaided eye can detect 

 * Tubercularia vulgare.. 



