58 THE FUNGI PREVAIL AT NIGHT 



in a saccharine solution containing yeast, and in another 

 very dissimilar shape in stale beer. " There are some 

 (fungi) which are seen only once or twice in an age, and 

 that in places where it is very difficult to account for their 

 formation." (Art. MusTir. Rees.) 



According to Pereira, "the fungi consist of cells and 

 fibres, always sprouting from organized and generally de- 

 cayed or .decaying substances, not perfected wlien entirely 

 immersed in water." 



Fungi (on the authority of Herat et Lens), appear sus- 

 ceptible of remarkable diversification, according to climate, 

 season, and soil, which polymorpliia makes their study dif- 

 ficult. 



Almost every mineral, however poisonous, supports a 

 peculiar cryptogamous vegetation. Thus we have hydro- 

 crocis arsenici in solutions of arsenic, hyd. barytica in so- 

 lutions of baryta. Fungi grow in ink, in wing, indeed, in 

 everything; and naturalists are yet in doubt whether 

 these seemingly diverse things owe their differences to soil, 

 water, and temperature, or to different germs, each capa- 

 ble of growing only in its restricted field. 



Some fungi are confined to particular plants, both above 

 and beneath the surface of the ground, and some, as the 

 entophytes, exist only in the interior of living vegetables. 

 Even within hard, dried wood, a fungus creates a species 

 of fermentation, by which moisture is evolved. The 

 fungus appears, finally, at the surface, and the ligneous 

 fibre crumbles to dust. It is dry rot; and the destroyers 

 are the Polyporus destructor and the Merulius lacry- 

 mans, and Vastator. 



Most writers on this subject, including Christison and 

 Foder, believe that the climate alone greatly alters the 

 fungi; so that some, which are generally eaten with safety, 



