232 FUNGI. 



have not suffered much in this country from parasites. Besides 

 these, there are many other less troublesome parasites, such as 

 TTredo jilieum, OK ferns ; Puccinia Lychnidearum, on leaves of 

 sweet-william ; I] redo Orchidis, on leaves of orchids, &c. 



If we would sum up the influences of fungi in a few words, it 

 could be done somewhat in the following form. 



Fungi exert a deleterious influence 



On Man, 



When eaten inadvertently. 



By the destruction of his legitimate food. 



In producing or aggravating skin diseases. 



On Animals, 



By deteriorating or diminishing their food supplies. 

 By establishing themselves as parasites on some species. 



On Plants, 



By hastening the decay of timber. 



By establishing themselves as parasites. 



By impregnating the soil. 



But it is not proved that they produce epidemic diseases in 

 man or animals, or that the dissemination of their multitudinous 

 spores in the atmosphere has any appreciable influence on the 

 health of the human race. Hence their association with cholera, 

 diarrhoea, measles, scarlatina, and the manifold ills that flesh is 

 heir to, as producing or aggravating causes, must, in the present 

 state of our knowledge and experience, be deemed apocryphal. 



