192 



HISTORY OF THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM. 



such as li/coperdon, geastrum, stemonitis; desmo- 



S. The Hypoxylej3, which have the appear- 

 ance of tubercles or conceptacles, of very diver- 

 sified forms, opening by a fissure or pore, and 

 containing, in a kind of gelatinous pulp, small 

 capsules (thec<s) full of sporules, as hi/sterium, 

 spliceria, erysiphe. 



4. The MucEDiNE^. — Branched filaments 

 crossing each other, and bearing sporules desti- 

 tute of capsules, such as :ill the species of mucor, 

 and the numerous genera into which they have 

 been formed. 



5. The UEEDiNEas. — The sporules are con- 

 tained in capsules, which are either free, or placed 

 without order upon the surface of a filamentous 

 or pulverulent basis, as the uredo. 



The family of fungi is distinguished from those 

 of the algas and lichens by the absence of any 

 kind of frond or crust bearing the organs of fruc- 

 tification. 



The fungi have in general the characteristics 

 of vegetable bodies, yet, when analyzed, they 

 yield the same products as animal matter, among 

 the rest nitrogen, and in a state of putrefaction, 

 give out a similar odour. Ammonia, the phos- 

 phoric salts, and albumen, very analogous to that 

 of animals, are found in the fungi. It might be 

 supposed that such substances are highly nutri- 

 tious ; this, however, is not the case, as they are 

 among the most indigestible matters of food. 

 Most of them are of a highly poisonous nature ; 

 and even those kinds which, in particular situa- 

 tions, are harmless, become poisonous by a change 

 of soil. They differ from many noxious vegeta- 

 bles in this, that their poison cannot be separated 

 by boiling, or even by distillation, which has 

 been proved by the experiments of Parmentier. 

 The fungi thrive best in the decomposing mass 

 of vegetable bodies. Their seeds are exceedingly 

 minute, and not easily detected even by the aid 

 of the microscope, and therefore may be present 

 in almost every organic product, in the vessels, 

 fluids, and solid parts of both plants and animals. 

 We have already alluded to the minute fungi 

 in bread and fruits, constituting what is com- 

 monly called blue mould (page 6). These arise 

 from innumerable minute seeds floating about in 

 the atmosphere, or even carried along with the 

 circulating fluids of plants or animals. The in- 

 stant vitality ceases in them, the seeds of the 

 fungi come into action. Accordingly, many 

 species are most abundant in autumn, in rank 

 and shady places, and in rainy weather, when 

 decajred plants and insects may be presumed 

 most to abound. 



This class of plants is stiU very imperfectly 

 understood, and the phenomena attendant on 

 their mode of growth cannot be very well ex- 

 plained. Thus, as already remarked, locality 

 has a marked influence on the nature of their 



juices, for it has been found, by fatal experience, 

 that some species which are perfectly harmless 

 when raised in open meadows and pasture lands, 

 become virulently poisonous when they grow in 

 contact with stagnant water, or putrescent ani- 

 mal and vegetable substances. What the poison 

 in fungi may be, has not yet been accurately as- 

 certained. Some of the holeti, which have the 

 under sides of the caps formed of tubes instead 

 of giUs, yield even spontaneously crystals of 

 oxalic acid, and others, as the champignon, are 

 supposed to contain prussic acid. The nutritive 

 part seems to reside in the fungin, and the poison 

 and flavour in the acid, or at least in the juices 

 of which the acid forms a part. Fungin is white, 

 soft, and insipid. When burnt it smells like 

 bread, and by distiUatiou it yields a brown oU, 

 water, ammonia, and charcoal. The charcoal 

 contains phosphate of lime, some silica, with 

 traces of phosphate of alumina, carbonate of 

 lime, and sulphuretted hydrogen. Fungin, ob- 

 tained from whatever species of fungi, has all 

 these characteristics. This composition shows 

 that it combines the nature of vegetable and of 

 animal matter ; and when it is allowed to pu- 

 trefy in water, it has first the odour of putrefy- 

 ing vegetable gluten, and then that of a putrid 

 animal substance. Boletic acid crystallizes in 

 the form of irregular white prisms, does not 

 alter when exposed to the air, is soluble in 4a 

 times its weight of alcohol, and 80 times its 

 weight of water, at the temperature of 68°. Its 

 taste is somewhat similar to that of cream of tar- 

 tar. The propagation and growth of the fungi 

 are among the most curious subjects in the eco- 

 nomy of nature. Their seeds or germs, too mi- 

 nute in general to be injured by any mechanical 

 means, and having the power of resisting any 

 common chemical process, remain in the earth, 

 or in the vegetable substances, for an unlimited 

 period of time ; and they pass through the di- 

 gestive organs of animals, or endure the action 

 of heat, without sustaining the smallest injury. 

 This is exemplified in paste made of flour, which 

 produces mould or a species of fungi, as indeed 

 does almost every vegetable and animal sub- 

 stance when it arrives at a certain stage of de- 

 cay ; and this development is only prevented by 

 the action of the more active metallic salts. The 

 fungi themselves, when they decay, are, as well 

 as extraneous substances, subject in their turn 

 to the attacks of other fungi. Montagu men- 

 tions a case in which the membrane that sepa- 

 rates the lungs of an animal from the rest of the 

 intestines, were covered with blue mould, even 

 before death ; but the membrane itself was dis- 

 eased, and the surface dead. Minute fungi have 

 been found growing from the bodies of living 

 flies. 



The quick growth of fungi is as wonderful as 

 the length of time they survive, and the nume- 



