no MICEOSCOPIC FUNGI. 



CHAPTEE IX. 



EtTSTS. 



A QUARTER of a century ago, and all tte fungi 

 enumerated in the preceding and in the pre- 

 sent and following chapters would have been 

 arranged under three genera, called respectively 

 JEJcidiv/m, Pucdnia, and Uredo. Under the last- 

 named genus aU the species illustrated in. the pre- 

 sent chapter, beside many others, would have found 

 " a habitation and a name." There are stiU a few 

 which bear the old generic name, and, if only out of 

 respect, we shall grant them the first place. 



Let the first bright day in May witness the 

 student beside a cluster of plants of Mercurialis 

 perennis, which it wiU not be difficult to find in 

 many localities, and, on turning up the lower 

 leaves, he will meet with our first illustration of 

 a genuine Uredo, in the form of yellow confluent 

 patches, with a powdery surface (plate VII. 

 fig. 133). This will be Uredo confiitens. By the 

 way, the generic name is in itself suggestive, 

 which it always should be in all instances, but 

 unfortunately is not ; it is derived from the Latin 

 word uro, "I bum,'^ and is peculiarly applicable 

 in instances where the leaves acquire a blistered, 

 burnt, or scorched appearance, occasioned by the 



