INFLUENCES AND EFFLCTS. 221 
perused with advantage. Tish are subject to a mouldy-looking 
parasite belonging to the Siprolegniet, and a similar form 
attacks the ova of toads and frogs. Gold fish in globes and 
_ aquaria are very subject to attack from this mouldy enemy, and 
although we have seen them recover undera constant change of 
water, this is by no means always the casc, for in a few weeks 
the parasite will usually prevail. 
The influence of fungi upon animals in countries other than 
European is very little known, except in the case of the species 
of Yorrubia found on insects, and the diseases to which silk- 
worms are subject. Instances have been recorded of the occur- 
rence of fungoid mycelium—for in most it is nothing more—in 
the tissues of animals, in the hard structure of bone and shell, 
in the intestines, lungs, and other fleshy parts, and in various 
organs of birds.* In some of the latter cases it has been de- 
scribed as a Mucor, in most it is merely cells without sufficient 
character for determination. It is by no means improbable that 
fungi may be found in such situations; the only question with 
regard to them is whether they are not accidental, and not the 
producers of unhealthy or diseased tissues, even when found in 
proximity thereto. 
There is one phase of the influences of fungi on the lower 
animals which must not be wholly passed over, and that is the 
relation which they bear to some of the insect tribes in fur- 
nishing them with food. It is especially the case with the 
Coleoptera that many species seem to be entirely dependent on 
fungi for existence, since they are found in no other situations. 
Beetle-hunters tell us that old Polyporei, and similar fungi of 
a corky or woody nature, are always sought after for certain 
species which they seek in vain elsewhere,t and those who pos- 
sess herbaria know how destructive certain minute members of 
the animal kingdom are to their choicest specimens, against 
whose depredations even poison is sometimes unavailing. 
Some of the Uredines, as Trichobasis suaveolens and Coleospo- 
rium sonchi, are generally accompanied by a little orange larva 
* Murie, in ‘‘ Monthly Microscopical Journal’’ (1872), vii. p. 149. 
t See genus Mycetophagus, “Stephen's Manual Brit. Coleopt.’ p. 132, 
