' FUNGI— THEIR NATURE AND HABITS. 7 



common house-fly, Musca domestica, is subject to a species of fungus now called 

 Sporendonema muscse, that kills its victim and afterwards appears as a mouldy 

 halo around it. The Bramble moth, Bambyx rubi, is attacked and killed by a 

 species of Isaria. Different genera of this sub-order are found on dead larvae of 

 moths, dead spiders, etc., but whether they are the cause or consequence of 

 death in these cases is doubtful. Some members of the wasp family — Vespa — 

 are subject to the attacks of the fungus, Torrubia sphenococephala, which may 

 be often seen protruding from the insect while still living. Numerous insects of 

 widely different orders are attacked by a great number of species of spheriaceous 

 fungi. 



Certain species of fungi often prove quite destructive to fish, especially to 

 the young fry. The ova of toads and frogs have been found penetrated by this 

 same aquatic fungus. The mycelia of fungoid plants have been found in the 

 tissues of birds, and even the ovum is not exempt, as Signor Pancery, of Naples, 

 discovered no less than seven species in the albumen of hen's eggs. May we not 

 have here a hint as to the manner in which hereditary diseases are transmitted 

 from parent to offspring ? Man is subject also to the deleterious influences of 

 fungoid organisms. Mr. Hogg has discovered as many as fourteen different 

 forms of fungi in as many different cutaneous diseases. Scald-head, ring-worms, 

 tetter, etc., are produced in this way. 



Many, if not most, of the diseases to which man is liable, are the effects of 

 living germs of a fungoid nature. Ague, typhoid, typhus, scarlet and yellow 

 fevers, small-pox, cholera, measles, diphtheria and other diseases are believed to 

 originate in this cause, and in regard to many there is no longer any doubt. 

 Consumption has recently been traced to the existence of bacillus in the pulmo- 

 nary organs. 



A common disease in India, called Madura foot, is caused a by fungus, the 

 mycelium of which penetrates the tissues of the foot, changing the flesh and bones 

 to a diseased mass full of cavities and channels. We are therefore led to the 

 conclusion that a knowledge of the nature, history and habits of fungoid vegeta- 

 tion is intimately related to the welfare of the human family, and should be more 

 generally studied and understood than has hitherto been the case. 



There are some pecuharities belonging to some of the members of this class 

 of vegetation that may be of interest to notice before leaving the subject. While 

 many of them have the spore or sporidia-bearing surface exposed to the light, 

 others seem to avoid this position, constantly keeping the fruiting surface turned 

 away from the light. An illustrative example of this is found in Polyporei, which 

 are so averse to direct light on the hymenium that, if the plant be reversed so as 

 to expose that side, the fructiferous surface is gradually obliterated and a new 

 one is formed on the under surface. In many fungi, if a cut surface be exposed 

 to the air it is soon changed in color, generally to a blue tint. The Boleti may 

 be cited as an illustration of this property. When a slice of B. luridis or of B. 

 cyanescense is exposed it soon acquires this color, caused, according to Dr. 

 Phipson, by the action of the ozone of the atmosphere on the acetate of aniline 



