238 FUNGI. 



Mtxogastres. — Rotten wood is one of the most favoured of 

 matrices on -which those fungi develop themselves ; some of 

 them, however, are terrestrial. JEllwlium will grow on spent 

 tan and other substances. Species of Diderma flourish on 

 mosses, jungermannias, grass, dead leaves, ferns, &c. Angiori- 

 dium sinuosum, Grev., will run over growing plants of different 

 kinds, and Spumaria, in like manner, encrusts living grasses. 

 Badhamia not only flourishes on dead wood, but one species is 

 found on the fading leaves of coltsfoot which are still green. 

 Oraterium runs over almost any substance which lies in its way. 

 IAcea perreptans was found in a cucumber frame heated with 

 spent hops. One or two Myxogastres have been found on lead, 

 or even on iron which had been recently heated. Sowerby 

 found one on cinders, in one of the galleries of St. Paul's 

 Cathedral. 



Nidulakiacei grow on the ground, or on sticks, twigs, chips, 

 and other vegetable substances, such as sawdust, dung, and 

 rotten wood. 



The Coniomtcetes consist of two sections, which ape based on 

 their habitats. In one section the species are developed on dead 

 or dying plants, in the other they are parasitic on living plant?. 

 The former includes the Sphceronemei, which are variable in their 

 proclivities, although mostly preferring dead herbaceous plants 

 and the twigs of trees. The exceptions are in favour of Sphcer- . 

 onema, some of which are developed upon decaying fungi. In tho- 

 large genera, Septoria, Ascochyta, PhyllostictK, Asteroma, &c, 

 the favourite habitat is fading and dying leaves of plants of all 

 kinds. In the majority of cases these fungi are not autonomous, 

 but are merely the stylosporous conditions ofSphceria. They 

 are mostly minute, and the stylospores are of the simplest kind. 

 The Melanconiei have a preference for the twigs of trees, burst- 

 ing through the bark, and expelling the spores in a gelati- 

 nous mass. A few of them are foliicolous, but the exceptions 

 are comparatively rare, and are represented chiefly in Glceo- 

 sporium, species of which are found also on apples, peaches, 

 nectarines, and other fruits. The Torulacei are superficial, 

 having much of the external appearance of the black moulds, 



