98 GLIMPSES OF NATURE. 



germs which the air-oceari bears. In this way, dis- 

 seminated abroad, the spores find a resting-place here 

 and there : now in the jam-pots of the housewife, now 

 on the fine old crusted cheese, and now on a pair of 

 boots which have been laid away in a damp condition. 



But in ether cases, our fungi develop their spores 

 in closed cases, whence they ultimately escape. The 

 fungus-spore settles down, as we have seen, develops 

 its threads, and then, latterly, we get back to the 

 spore-bearing stage again. Some fungi may give 

 origin each to several kinds of spores, and out of each 

 kind a special form of the fungus develops. The exact 

 personality of the fungus in such a case may be a 

 matter very difficult of determination ; and it would 

 almost appear as though several distinct species had 

 become mysteriously mixed up in their development. 



In lower plant-life, however, we are prepared for 

 this assumption of several forms and shapes, and 

 finally in their habits we see illustrated the same 

 tendency towards particular modes of life. Fungi 

 nearly related are often found to attack very different 

 plants. There is a mildew which attacks the lettuce, 

 for example, and it is a near relative of another which 

 infests the onion. Yet each fungus seems compelled 

 to keep to its own plant, lettuce or onion : the one 

 cannot trench on the other's ground. This says some- 

 thing for complicated habits even among the tenants 

 of the slums of the vegetable world. 



