6 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 



ter, if left to decay in the air, would pollute the atmosphere with its poisonous 

 exhalations. No sooner has life become extinct in any organic forms than they 

 are seized upon as the nidus for innumerable forms of parasitic fungi, the spores 

 of which have been so profusely sown upon every object, that penetrate their 

 tissues and appropriate their substance to the building up of their own structures. 

 In thus removing useless and offensive matter that would prove deleterious to 

 health, these fungi prove beneficial. But some of them attack and destroy the 

 texture of sound timbers to the great damage of buildings and structures. As, 

 for instance, that one known as dry rot — Merulius lachrymans — that attacks the 

 sound timbers of buildings, etc., sending its mycelium into the pores of the wood 

 and reducing the inner portions to a rotten, worthless condition. Another simi- 

 lar one is Polyporus hybridus, which attacks oak-built vessels and causes much 

 damage to them. But it is those parasitic fungi that prey upon Hving plants and 

 animals that cause the most serious losses and are to be the most dreaded. 



We need allude to but few of these parasites on living beings to illustrate the 

 destructive power of these cryptogamic forms. The potato fungus — Peronospora 

 infestans — has attracted more attention and caused greater ravages, probably, 

 than any other parasitic plant in modern times. This has caused losses to the 

 extent of hundreds, if not thousands, of millions of dollars since it first began its 

 extensive ravages some forty years ago. The ravages of Puccinia on the cereals 

 and of Uredo on maize, with their extensive damages, are too well and generally 

 known to need extended elucidation. 



The hop mildew has been the cause of extensive losses to that crop in those 

 regions where it is extensively cultivated. The rose, verbena, hollyhock, goose- 

 berry, bean, and indeed nearly every species of plant, are subject to the attacks 

 of one or more species of cryptogamic parasites. 



The rot in the apple, the blight in the pear, and the yellows in the peach 

 are traceable to a similar cause. Were it not for the power of these low organ- 

 isms, in connection with predatory insects, to hold in check the luxuriance of 

 vegetable life, it is probable there would be such an exuberance of these forms 

 as to literally overrun the earth. But if in this Hght, fungi are to be regarded as 

 beneficial, it must be admitted that in many instances, as noted above, the mat- 

 ter is largely overdone — we have entirely too much of a good thing. But the 

 attacks of fungi on living organisms are not confined to the vegetable world. 

 Animals also are subject to these attacks. There no longer remains any doubt 

 that many diseases are caused by the presence of fungi in the animal system. 

 The White grub, the larva of Lachnosterna, is attacked by a species of fungus, 

 probably a Sphserea, that grows in the form of sprouts from the sides of the mouth 

 of the insect. 



The disease among bees, known as "foul brood," is caused by a fungus 

 that spreads over the surface of the comb and sends its mycelium into the young 

 larvse, soon reducing them to a putrid, stinking mass. The silk-worm disease 

 that has proved such a scourge to the silk interest in France, is caused by the 

 fungus Botrytis bassiana, that seems to defy all efforts for its extermination. The 



