For.jis OF FUNai. 17 



impregnated with the pecuhar principles of the 

 matter to which any particular fungus is at- 

 tached, form its appropriate food. 



Fungi assume various forms : the simplest is 

 that of a series of articulated threads composed 

 of little cellules placed end to end. We have an 

 example of this form in common mould, as is 

 easily to be seen by submitting it to the 

 microscope. In some of these cases the joints 

 separate, and appear to be capable of repro- 

 duction, but, in others, the spores are found on 

 the last joints, and when the cellule which con- 

 tains them bursts, they are dispersed, and, as 

 soon as they find a suitable place, germination 

 commences. In the next condition, we find 

 fungi assuming a determinate figure, consisting 

 of a mass of chiefly cellular tissue, the interior 

 of which contains the spores adhering to it, and 

 frequently four together. When this dries, 

 the result is a dusty substance, which almost 

 every one has witnessed who has gathered a 

 common puff-ball. With regard to the most 

 complete state, Mr. Berkeley observes, " they 

 consist of two surfaces, one of which is even 

 and imperforate, the other separated into 

 plates or cells, and called the hymeniimiy to 

 whose component cells, which form a structure 



