CHAPTER VII 



THE STORY OF THE FUNGI 



To the nature student each season brings its 

 special interest. Even the autumn, which is 

 traditionally a time of death and decay, sig- 

 nalises the beginning of great activity on the 

 part of an important group of plants. In all 

 kinds of places during these damp days, but 

 particularly in the neighbourhood of trees, 

 there are springing up large numbers of mush- 

 rooms and toadstools, many of which are 

 exceedingly beautiful in appearance. So sud- 

 denly do these growths come on the scene that 

 it is easy to understand the idea of the early 

 naturalist that vegetation of this kind arose 

 spontaneously. In those times, of course, 

 nothing was known of that great underground 

 system of which the toadstools and mushrooms 

 are simply the reproductive processes. Before 

 dweUing on the life story of the fungus it is 

 useful to consider the real place of these plants 



as compared with other kinds of vegetation. 



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