i88».i883.3 l87 



families. They are all epiphyllous or parasitic plants. The 

 rust on young gooseberries is a familiar form. The smut of 

 wheat, barley, and oats are other species. The spores of these 

 fungi are so exceedingly minute that 49 of them would be con- 

 tained within the 160,000 part of a square inch. One of this 

 class which haunts the leaves of the wood anemone was formerly 

 mistaken for the sori of a fern, and as such actually appears in old 

 books under the title of the " Conjurer of Chalgrave's Fern." 

 These fungi are the cause of the disease of the tissues on which 

 they grow, and they are contagious, 4. Gasteromycetes. — In 

 these the parts that bear the spores are enclosed in a peridium 

 or case, which bursts when they are ripe. The common puff 

 ball is a good representative. Dr. Lindley has calculated that 

 the cells of which it is composed multiply at the extraordinary 

 rate of 60,000,000 per minute. The large white puff balls, when 

 quite fresh and young, are excellent to eat when fried. This 

 class includes the only disagreeable fungi, the phalloidoea or 

 stinkhorns, which emit a horrid stench that is quite unendurable 

 to anyone except an enthusiastic fungologist. The curious 

 bird's nest fungus, which is like a tiny humming bird's nest full 

 of eggs, and the earth star, very like a star fish, are included in 

 this division. 5. Physomycetes are marked by stalked sacs 

 or cells, containing the spores ; they are bladder shaped, and 

 scattered upon threads. The most familiar is the blue mould 

 on bread, known as Aspergillas, from resembling the brush used 

 for sprinkling holy water in Roman Catholic countries. The 

 black felty cellar fungus, so common in old wine vaults, is 

 another species. 6. Ascomycetes, or bag-like fungi, produce 

 their spores in the interior of groups of cells or bags. Some 

 are altogether subterranean, such as the truffle, which is in re- 

 pute among lovers of delicious food. It is found some inches 

 below the surface of the ground ; dogs and pigs are regularly 

 trained and employed in France to find them out. The morell 

 is another that is so highly esteemed as sometimes to reach the 

 extravagant price of one shilling an ounce. In Germany the 

 demand for morells was once so great that the peasants burnt 



