34 APPEAEANCE OF THE STBAW. 



dense masses of pear-shaped fungi with a stalk, 

 into which each one gradually tapers. 



The threads of mycelium, or spawn, are not 

 visible, but they interweave themselves amongst 

 the tissue of the straw, and it is from them 

 that the spores emerge, and break through the 

 epidermis. A beautiful figure of it may be 

 seen in Corda's celebrated drawings of fungi ; 

 but it requires great skill and a very powerful 

 microscope to see it well. 



Piece of straw with mildew, as viewed under the microscope 

 magnified 125 diameters. 



The usual magnified appearance of a piece 

 of mildewed straw is represented in the draw- 

 ing, viewed as an opaque object by a good 

 achromatic glass. The pear-shaped bodies 

 thus clustered together are the spores of the 

 puccinia. If a small quantity be scraped off 

 with the point of a knife, and further mag- 



