96 FUNGI. 



CHAPTER IX. 



FUNGI. 



THE Fungi form the lowest class of plants : as ex- 

 amples of them, may be mentioned mushrooms, toad- 

 stools, puff-balls, the mould of paste, the blue mould 

 of cheese, &c. The more minute Fungi are very 

 common, forming beautiful microscopic objects, al- 

 though they are rarely studied by the microscopic 

 observer. 



Fungi live usually upon rotting or decaying vege- 

 table substances, as rotten wood, the dead leaves and 

 stems of plants, &c. ; but sometimes they are found 

 upon living plants, and some of them exist upon de- 

 caying animal matters, and even in living animals. 



Fungi exhibit no separation of root, stem, or leaves, 

 as exists in the higher plants ; nor do they contain 

 chlorophyll, the presence of which is so generally 

 associated with the idea of a plant. But they consist 

 of aggregations of mostly elongate cells, forming 

 branched and interlacing colourless fibres, buried like 

 roots in the substance (matrix) upon which they grow, 

 and from which they derive their nourishment ; this 

 portion of the Fungus is called the mycelium (JJLVKTIS, 

 a fungus). The portion of the Fungus projecting 

 beyond the surface of the matrix is the fructification ; 

 and this is the part usually called the fungus, the 

 mycelium being overlooked by a casual observer. So 

 that here we have a character distinguishing the 

 Fungi from the Lichens, which derive their nourish- 

 ment from the air, and not from the matrix. The 

 absence of the green cells, or gonidia, forms another 



