44 MYCOPHAGY. 



the Mucor mucedo, that spawns upon undried pre- 

 serves ; the Ascophora mucedo, that makes our bread 

 mouldy ; the Uredo segetum, that burns Ceres out of her 

 own corn-fields ; the Uredo rubigo, that is still more 

 destructive ; and the Puccinea graminis, whose voracity 

 sets corn-laws and farmers at defiance, are all funguses. 



"When our beer becomes mothery, the mother of 

 that mischief is a fungus ; if pickles acquire a bad 

 taste, if ketchup turns ropy and putrifies, funguses have 

 a finger in it all ! 



" Some love the neighbourhood of burned stubble and 

 charred wood ; some visit the sculptor in his studio, 

 growing up amidst the heaps of moistened marble-dust 

 that has caked and consolidated under his saw. The 

 Racodium of the low cellar (vide the London Docks, 

 passim, where he pays his unwelcome visits, and is even 

 more unwelcome than the exciseman) festoons its ceiling, 

 shags its walls, and wraps its thick coat round our wine- 

 casks. The close cavities of nuts afford concealment to 

 some species ; others, like leeches, stick to the bulbs of 

 plants, and suck them dry ; these pick timber to pieces, 

 as men pick oakum. They also attach themselves to 

 animal structures and destroy animal life : the Oxygena 

 equina has a particular fancy for the hoofs of horses and 

 for the horns of cattle, sticking to these alone. The 

 disease called ' Muscadine,' which destroys so many 

 silk- worms, is also a fungus, which in a very short time 

 fills the worm with filaments very unlike those which it 

 is in the habit of secreting. The vegetating wasp is an- 

 other mysterious blending of vegetable with insect life. 

 Lastly, and to take breath, funguses visit the wards of 

 our hospitals, and grow out of the products of surgical 

 disease/' 



In addition to all this, we must add certain marvels 

 not noticed by Badham. One of the most curious pro- 

 perties of certain fungi is their capability of growth in 

 substances which are in general destructive to vege- 

 tables. Tannin is one of these, and yet a tan-pit is the 



