FUNGI 73 



kind of green plant, fungi of all kinds exist. Almost any damp 

 surface offers a pasturage for them : ceilings, towels, old boots, rotten 

 wood, cellar walls to name but a few. Mention need not be made 

 of the great part played by fungi in brewing, cheese-making, and 

 other practical industries, while many of the diseases which destroy 

 our cultivated crops : bunt, smut, potato-disease, turnip-mildew, are 

 due to the attacks of a special fungus. Then again, the rapid growth 

 of many species will excite wonder. In a meadow at Eton this year 

 (1903), after the floods had subsided, a puff-ball was found growing 

 on an old wooden fence, which increased from the size of a fives-ball 

 to that of a foot-ball in a single night. This quick growth often 

 enables fungi to exert great pressure on objects surrounding them. 

 Paving stones have been lifted out of their beds by toadstools grow- 

 ing beneath them. Perhaps the best-known instance of this power 

 is the circumstance which Sir Joseph Banks observed in his own 

 house. A cask of wine was deposited in his cellar, and not examined 

 for a space of three years. It was then found that the cask had 

 leaked, and the wine supplied food for a gigantic fungus which had 

 filled the cellar and carried the cask with it to the roof.^ 



Nothing more need be said as to the interests which are likely to 

 arise from the study of fungi, but we would recommend the nature 

 student to supply himself with reliable handbooks, such as those by 

 Mr George Massee t and Dr M. C. Cooke. t 



* Gf. "British Fungi." By M. C. Cooke. 



t " A Text-book of Plant Diseases." Duckworth & Co. 1903. Price 5s. 



" European Fungus Flora (Agaricaceae)." Duckworth & Co. 1902. Price 6s. 



I "Fungi, their Nature, Influence and Uses." 12mo. Cuts. Kegan Paul & Co. 

 (International Scientific Series.) 5s. 



" Introduction to the Study of Fungi." Royal 8vo. 1895. Woodcuts. A. & C. Black. 

 14s. 6d. 



" A Plain and Easy Account of British Fungi." Out of print, but can be obtained for 

 2s. or 3s. (* over) 



