922 FUNGI. 
which preys upon the fungus; and in the United States Dr. 
Bolles informs us that some species of Aucidium are so con- 
stantly infested with this red larva that it is scarcely possible 
to get a good specimen, or to keep it from its sworn enemy. 
Minute Anguillide revel in tufts of mould, and fleshy Agarics, 
as they pass into decay, become colonies of insect life. Small 
Lepidoptera, belonging to the Tineina, appear to have a liking 
for such Polyporet as P. sulfureus when it becomes dry and 
hard, or P. squamosus when it has attained a similar condition. 
Acari and Psocide attack dried fungi of all kinds, and speedily 
reduce them to an unrecognizable powder. 
III. What are the influences exerted by fungi on other 
plants? This is a broad subject, but withal an important one, 
since these influences act indirectly on man as well as on the 
lower animals. On man, inasmuch as it interferes with the vege- 
table portion of his food, either by checking its production or 
depreciating its quality. On the lower animals, since by this 
means not only is their natural food deteriorated or diminished, 
but through it injurious effects are able to be produced by the 
introduction of minute fungi into the system. These remarks 
apply mainly to fungi which are parasitic on living plants. On 
‘the other hand, the influence of fungi must not be lost sight of 
as the scavengers of nature when dealing with dead and decay- 
‘ing vegetable matter. Therefore, as in other instances, we have 
here also good and bad influences intermingled, so that it can- 
not be said that they are wholly evil, or unmixed good. 
Wherever we encounter decaying vegetable matter we mect 
with fungi, living upon and at the expense of decay, appropri- 
ating the changed elements of previous vegetable life to the 
support of a new generation, and hastening disintegration and 
assimilation with the soil. No one can have observed the 
mycelium of fungi at work on old stumps, twigs, and decayed 
wood, without being struck with the rapidity and certainty with 
which disintegration is being carried on. The gardener casts 
on one side, in a pile as rubbish, twigs and cuttings from his 
trees, which are useless to him, but which have all derived much 
from the soil on which they flourished. Shortly fungi make 
