324 FIRST FORMS OF VEGETATION. 
thing is, that instead of locomotion being the dis- 
tinguishing mark of the most advanced stage of 
growth in these organisms, it is peculiar, as we 
have seen, to the infantile condition; while the 
adult approaches more to the Buddhist idea of 
perfection, and settles down to repose. 
’ From the preceding observations it is evident that 
all the forms of fungoid life, excessively minute in 
size and simple in structure although many of them 
are, obey the great law of nature in propagating 
themselves by seeds or germs. And yet there are 
not wanting individuals who believe that these 
plants are the productions of spontaneous or equi- 
vocal generation, springing up without seed or germ 
from the soil, or from substances in a state of fermen- 
tation. This theory is countenanced and rendered 
plausible by the almost instantaneous appearance 
of mildew, dry-rot, mould, and various others of the 
simplest class of fungi on the objects affected, and 
the strange and almost inaccessible situations in 
which they are found, as, for instance, in the inside 
of a large cheese, in a hazel-nut,in a fresh egg, in the 
core of an apple, beneath the wrapper with which 
the careful housewife covers her cherished pre- 
serves, and under the epidermis of living plants, 
—localities where it is difficult to conceive how 
any seed, however minute, could find lodgment. 
The nature and habits of these plants are now, 
