WHEN AND WHERE TO COLLECT FUNGI 37 



lieaps of dung in pastures furnish several species not met with else- 

 where. Several very fine agarics belonging to the black-spored 

 group occur on rather old heaps of horse-dung, while many minute 

 but very beautiful fungi occur on old, half-dried patches of cow- 

 dung. If a lump of horse-dung, not too fresh, is placed on a plate, 

 covered with a beU-jar, and kept moist, a regular succession of 

 species of fungi, extending over some months, can be obtained. 

 First appears a cloud of the minute fungi, popularly known as 

 moulds, which maj^ number anything from one to ten different 

 species, which as microscopic objects cannot be surpassed for beauty 

 or variety of form, and small as the species are, it is not uncommon 

 to find yet smaller species parasitic upon them, often climbing up 

 the stems and branches after the manner of a honeysuckle twining 

 round a branch. Within a week or two the moulds completely 

 disappear, and may be followed by two or three dainty agarics, 

 some not being more than one or two lines in diameter, growing 

 in crannies and cracks, and which might escape attention unless 

 specially looked for. Other fungi form more or less effused black 

 crusts on the surface of the dung, and under a pocket-lens appear 

 to be made up of minute black beads, closely packed side by side. 

 These fungi produce their spores in asci, and if a single little bead 

 is picked out on the point of a needle, crushed on a slip of glass 

 and examined under the microscope, the asci, each containing eight 

 coloured spores, can be readily seen. 



An old, neglected wood-yard should never be passed, as many 

 species of Agarics and Polypores, that usually grow high up and 

 out of reach on trees, may often be secured. 



Bogs, and especially sphagnum swamps, often furnish species 

 that are not met with elsewhere, and some very beautiful fungi 

 are sometimes to be met with on heaps of dead leaves or other 

 vegetable refuse floating or stranded in ditches, bogs, etc. 



Old decayed bodies of animals or birds are the home of certain 

 fungi, and some of our rarest species, resembling miniature drum- 

 sticks, grow on old bones, feathers, etc. 



Coming to the truly parasitic species of fungi, which are mostly 

 minute forms, perhaps the most conspicuous are the white mildews, 

 often, unfortunately, so common on the leaves of cultivated plants. 

 These fungi form snow-white patches on the leaves of living plants, 

 as the hop mildew, rose mildew, etc. In these fungi the summer- 

 fruit or conidia consists of large colourless cells powdered o\'er the 

 surface of the infected leaf ; the winter or ascigerous fruit presents 

 the appearance of very minute blackish dots scattered over the 

 mycelium of the fungus, and are often very abundant. The large 

 black blotches so common on sycamore and maple leaves, re- 

 sembling patches of black paint, are certain to attract attention. 

 This fungus is called RJiytisma accriuum. The "smuts" and 

 " bunts " are also rendered conspicuous by the copious masses of 



