222 FUNGI. 



which preys upon the fungus; and in the United States Dr. 

 Bolles informs us that some species of JEcidium are so con- 

 stantly infested with this red larva that it is scarcely possible 

 to get a good specimen, or to keep it from its sworn enemy. 

 Minute Anguillidce revel in tufts of mould, and fleshy Agarics, 

 as they pass into decay, become colonies of insect life. Small 

 Lepidoptera, belonging to the Tineina, appear to have a liking 

 for such Polyporei as P. sulfureus when it becomes dry and 

 hard, or P. squamosus when it has attained a similar condition. 

 Acari and Psocidce attack dried fungi of all kinds, and speedily 

 reduce them to an unrecognizable powder. 



III. What are the influences exerted by fungi on other 

 plants ? This is a broad subject, but withal an important one, 

 since these influences act indirectly on man as well as on the 

 lower animals. On man, inasmuch as it interferes with the vege- 

 table portion of his food, either by checking its production or 

 depreciating its quality. On the lower animals, since by this 

 means not only is their natural food deteriorated or diminished, 

 but through it injurious effects are liable to be produced by the 

 introduction of minute fungi into the system. These remarks 

 apply mainly to fungi which are parasitic on living plants. On 

 the other hand, the influence of fungi must not be lost sight of 

 as the scavengers of nature when dealing with dead and decay- 

 ing vegetable matter. Therefore, as in other instances, we have 

 here also good and bad influences intermingled, so that it can- 

 not be said that they are wholly evil, or unmixed good. 



Wherever we encounter decaying vegetable matter we meet 

 with fungi, living upon and at the expense of decay, appropri- 

 ating the changed elements of previous vegetable life to the 

 support of a new generation, and hastening disintegration and 

 assimilation with the soil. No one can have observed the 

 mycelium of fungi at work on old stumps, twigs, and decayed 

 wood, without being struck with the rapidity and certainty with 

 which disintegration is being carried on. The gardener casts 

 on one side, in a pile as rubbish, twigs and cuttings from his 

 trees, which are useless to him, but which have all derived much 

 from the soil on which they flourished. Shortly fungi make 



