PARASITIC FUNGI AND MOULDS. 25 
name is due to the red stains which cover the skin, 
afterwards drying up and falling off in the form of 
seales. At first the general health is not affected, and 
several years may intervene before the occurrence of 
vertigo, a want of appetite, emaciation, and finally the 
torpor and convulsions which precede death. These ill 
effects may be prevented by baking the maize before 
grinding it, according to the process in use in Burgundy. 
There is another very common fungus also belong- 
ing to the group of ascomycetes, termed Lurotiwm 
repens. This mould appears upon leather which has 
been left in a damp place, and on vegetable or animal 
substances in process of decomposition or badly pre- 
served, and especially upon cooked fruits. 
This mould is of a sombre green, a colour by no 
means due to the presence of chlorophyl. On the 
mycelium, which spreads over the substance of the 
leather or of the fruit-skin, small stems are developed, 
consisting of a jointed tube, and terminating in an 
enlarged head on which chaplets of small grains are 
formed, each of which is a spore. This was formerly 
termed Aspergillus glaucus, and was regarded as a 
peculiar species (Fig. 13). 
When, however, this mould is developed in a place 
in which the supply of air is limited, small gold-coloured 
balls may often be observed beside or in the midst of the 
stems, and these are filled with asci, each containing 
eight spores. This second form has been termed Lwro- 
tiwm repens. It has recently been ascertained that 
