MUTATIONS OF THE FUNGI. 



nature, and we frequently want an obvious, per- 

 manent character, to indicate the species, affording 

 sufficient conviction of the individual. The rapid 

 powers of vegetation in some will change the form 

 and hues almost before a delineation can be made, 

 or an examination take place, requiring nearly a 

 residence with them to become acquainted with their 

 various mutations ; and we have no method of pre- 

 serving them to answer the purpose of comparison. 

 These are all serious impediments to the investiga- 

 tion of this class ; yet, perhaps, I may with some 

 confidence suggest, that any one, who is so circum- 

 stanced as to afford the time, so situated as to find 

 a supply of these productions, and will bestow on 

 them a patient examination, will find both pleasure 

 and gratification in contemplating the beauty, the 

 mechanism, the forms, the attitudes, of the whole 

 order of fungi. 



As far as we can observe, it appears to be an 

 established ordinance of nature, that all created 

 things must have a final period. This mandate is 

 effected by various means, slow and nearly imper- 

 ceptible in some cases, but operative in all. As in 

 the animal world, after disease or violence has ex- 

 tinguished life, the dispersion is accomplished by 

 the agency principally of other animals, or animated 

 creatures; so, in the vegetable world, vegetating 

 substances usually effect the entire decomposition : 

 for though, in the larger kinds, the high and lofty 



