SECT. m. NIDULARIACEL 273 



family of fungi. The plants are exactly like a bird's nest 

 with eggs, sometimes with a stem, sometimes without. 

 At first the nest or cup has a cover consisting of several 

 coats, which either burst open with a stellate or irre- 

 gular figure, or by the separation of a little lid ; then 

 the hollow of the cup or nest is exposed, and at the 

 bottom are seen one or more sporangia, that is spore 

 cases, often immersed in jelly and either free or fixed 

 to the nest by an elastic string. The spore-coats at 

 first contain a compact circular mass, but a cavity is 

 afterwards formed in the centre, and the cells which ter- 

 minate in the walls of the cavity bear spores on their tips. 

 When ripe the spore cases are ejected by elastic power. 

 The force with which the sporangium of the species of 

 Sphserobolus is ejected, far exceeds in proportion the 

 force with which a shell is projected from a large 

 mortar ;. this fungus sometimes grows in damp hot- 

 houses. 8 Many Nidularise are widely spread, but they 

 thrive best in warm climates. 



The intimate structure and fructification of the higher 

 fungi are for the most part microscopic but an 

 innumerable mass of the lower fungi are themselves 

 invisible to the naked eye, living upon all kinds of 

 vegetable and animal substances, dead, alive, fresh or 

 putrid. They vegetate upon decayed linen, flannel, 

 leather, and even on metallic and poisonous solutions. 

 They yield myriads of minute spores wafted by every 

 breeze. They float in the air we breathe, seeking a nidus 

 in anything that will supply them with suitable food. 

 There is scarcely a spot on the earth where these minute 

 spores may not exist, and being insoluble, they wait 

 where they fall for the growth or decay of the plant 

 or animal which suits them. As parasites they are 

 most destructive, producing disintegration, disease, and 

 even death, both in vegetables and animals. 



8 ' Introduction to Cryptogamic Botany,' by the Rev. M. J. Berkeley. 

 VOL. I. T 



