HABITATS. 



243 



as well as some species of Stigmatea and DotMdea. Of the 



genus SpTiceria, a considerable number are found on dung, now 



included by some authors under Sordaria and Sporormia, genera 



founded, as we think, on insufficient characters. 



A limited number of species are parasitic on 



lichens, and one species only is known to be 



aquatic. 



We have thus rapidly, briefly, and casually 

 indicated the habitats to which the majority 

 of the larger groups of fungi are attached, 

 regarding them from a systematic point of 

 view. There is, however, another aspect from 

 which we might approach the subject, taking 

 the host or matrix, or in fact the habitat, as 

 the basis, and endeavouring to ascertain what 

 species of fungi are to be found in such posi- 

 tions. This has partly been done by M. West- 

 endorp;* but every year adds considerably to multd^o^n^lft 

 the number of species, and what might have moth- 

 been moderately accurate twelve years since can scarcely be so 

 now. To carry this out fully a special work would be neces- 

 sary, so that we shall be content to indicate or suggest, by means 

 of a few illustrations, the forms of fungi, often widely distinct 

 in structure and character, to be found in the same locality. 



The stems of herbaceous plants are favourite habitats for 

 minute fungi. The old stems of the common nettle, for ex- 

 ample, perform the office of host to about thirty species. f Of 

 these about nine are Pezizce, and there are as many sphaeriaceous 

 fungi, whilst three species of DendrypMum, besides other moulds, 

 select this plant. Some of these "have not hitherto been detected 

 growing on any other stems, such as SpTiceria urticm and LopMos- 

 toma sex-nucleatum, to which we might add Peziza fusarioides and 

 Dendrypliium griseum. These do not, however, include the whole 

 of the fungi found on the nettle, since others are parasitic upon 



* Westendorp, " Les Cryptogams apres leurs stations naturelles.'' 

 T Cooke, "On Nettle Stems and their Micro-Fungi," in " Journ. Quekett 

 Micro. Club," iii. p. 69. 



