262 . Aarne LAs 
It is probable that, being a lower form of life, fungi were in existence ages before 
this insect was evolved, and that some remote ancestor of this fungus perpetuated its 
existence upon dead or decaying vegetable matter. Thence, passing step by step 
through innumerable modifications, some individual found a suitable host in the body of 
a living insect, and discovering there such a suitable environment, it ultimately developed 
with great rapidity. Thus gaining considerable advantage over other individuals less 
favourably situated, it became at length specialised into a new species, parasitic upon 
insects, and it would 
probably become extinct 
should it cease to find an % 
animal host on which to 
feed. All dead and pro- 
bably all living animals 
are the prey of various 
species of fungi, more or 
less parasitic. Among the 
higher animals man him- 
self is by no means exempt, 
for many of the disorders 
from which we suffer may 
be traced to the ravages 
caused in our economy by 
the presence of these low 
organisms, either in the 
skin, within the tissues, 
or coursing through our 
veins. 
THE BULRUSH CATERPILLAR. 
OUR COLOURED PLATE. 
THE Stock-Dove (Columba @nas) is so similar in appearance when flying to the well- 
known woodpigeon or ringdove (Columba palumbus) that the two are often mistaken 
for each other. With the coloured plate before the reader it is unnecessary to describe 
the form, features, or colouring of this pretty bird. As to size, it averages 133 inches 
in length, or in other words is about one-third smaller than the woodpigeon. It is 
fairly abundant in the wild state, but is of much more local occurrence than 
Columba livia. In Iveland and especially in Scotland the stock-dove is increasing in 
numbers, and the bird is very common in the southern and eastern counties of England. 
