XIII. FUNGI. 963 



Tribe VI. ABTHR08P0BEJE. 



Eeceptacle filamentous, fistular, simple or branched, or almost obsolete, 

 continuous or chambered. Spores naked, terminal, jointed end to end, continuous 

 or chambered, separating more or less easily. 



PEINCIPAL GENERA. 



Of the genus Antennaria, which we place at the head of the ArthrosporecB, the fructification is scarcely 

 known. It is parasitic on [Ferns and] woody vegetables ; the branches and branchlets which compose it are 

 very numerous and formed of joints united end to end, very unequal and cohering strongly. All the species 

 are black, and spread over leaves, branches, and even trunks. They absolutely sufibcate the plants which 

 they attack, by obstructing respiration, as is seen in Pines, Cisti, arborescent Heaths, Olives, &c. Fumago 

 appears on herbaceous and woody plants, and on the inorganic objects which they overshadow. It is this 

 which, mixed with dust, begiimes the statues in public walks with a sort of coat which resembles a layer 

 of soot. Its filaments are very fine and branched, formed of unequal joints, without fructification, and can 

 be carried off by the wind or by rubbing. In this state it constitutes the Fumago vagans, which comprises 

 several species of Fungi, as Cladosporium Fumago, and various species of Pulychceton and Triposporium. 

 Polychaton belongs to the tribe of the Endothecal ThecasporecB: that of the Lemon-tree (P. Citri) commits 

 great ravages on the Aurantiacets cultivated in Italy, Spain, Portugal, the Azores, &c. Fumago is not 

 parasitic like Antennaria ; it vegetates on the honey-like excretions of the Aphis, the excreta of Cochineal 

 and other insects. It is, therefore, upon these that we must make, war to preserve our trees from the 

 black which soils their leaves. PenidlUum glauoum is the most common Mould ; it is found on all 

 animal or vegetable substances when they begin to decay, only needing moisture to induce its development. 

 Coremium glaucum appears principally upon fruit which is spoiling, and on that which has been 

 preserved. It differs from PeniciUium in its yellow pedicel, formed by the union of several. Jsan'c grows 

 on decomposing wood, and principally on dead insects, entomological collections not being always free 

 from it. MM. Tulasne consider it as the eonidial state of several Spheerice. Oidium Tucheii (the Vine 

 disease) appeared in 1847inEnglish vineries, but it is doubtless the same as that recorded in the sixteenth 

 century by M. Mizauld, and it has long been observed in America in its perfect state of an Erydphe. 

 The mischief which it has caused in Europe is incalculable. Amongst the various' means which have 

 been suggested for destroying it, we need only mention sulphur. Hot and damp seasons are particularly 

 favourable to it. The Yeast of beer {Torula cerejiisiee) is a production of which the nature is still far from 

 being determined. It is certain that it is the cause and effect of fermentation, and that the globules 

 composing it are jointed end to end, and are mostly free or separate, and that their multiplication is due 

 to cell-division. Mr. Berkeley thinks that it is a modification of PeniciUium glaucmn, due to the medium 

 in which it is developed, since this Fungus is found to spring from these globules when they are exposed 

 to the air. According to M. E. Hallier, the Yeast of beer would be the eonidial state of Leptathrix, which 

 arrives at the perfect state in the beer after fermentation. All this requires fresh researches. 



Fungi have nearly the same geographical distribution as Lichens ; they are met with in the tropics, 

 arid in the coldest regions of both hemispheres at the top of the highest mountains beyond Phseno- 

 gamic vegetation. M. Martins gathered on the top of the Faulhorn, at the height of 9,000 feet, 

 two Lycoperdons, a Peziza, and several Agarics. In Java they occupy a zone comprised between 5,000 

 and 8,600 feet, an elevation about equal, as Junghuhn has remarked, to that we have indicated on 

 the Alps.' Their northern limit appears to be Melville Island, 74° 47' north latitude. Lanosa nivalis 

 spreads its mucous filaments over the surface of the snow, and several of our European species have been 

 found in the southern hemisphere, beyond 60° south latitude, in Auckland and Campbell Islands. Our 

 Common Agaric, the Amadou Boletus, and Ascophora Mucedo, exist in all countries of the world. 

 Certain genera, poor in species, have widely dispersed representatives : thus, Montagnites Pallasii, from 



' Several species occur up to 18,000 feet in the Himalaya. — Ed. 

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