118 OF THE FUNGI. 



True, the very minute Fungi are not to be detected by 

 the naked eye, or at least very rarely ; and it may seem 

 superfluous to bid the young botanist search for what he 

 cannot perceive. But in truth, though he cannot perhaps 

 see them, he can see where they are ; he can see spots and 

 lines and fissures and excrescences ; he can see distortions 

 and discolouration s, all of which announce plainly that the 

 little miner has established himself, and is hard at work . 

 carrying out the mission entrusted to him by Providence. 

 Of course judgment and discrimination are necessary here, 

 as in every other department of science. Not every black 

 spot on a cereal is an Ustilago, nor is every knob or 

 distortion an Hysterium, or a Polycystis. Experience is, 

 no doubt, of the greatest possible use ; and, more than that, 

 it must be bought ; there is assuredly no ' royal road ' to 

 a knowledge of the Fungi. Nevertheless the student will 

 do well, if it lies in his power, to seek the advice and 

 counsel of an older mycologist ; so that, on his first few 

 botanical trips, he may have some kind of notion regarding 

 the characteristics of the minute Fungi. If he is not so 

 fortunate as to have a friend, who can lend him a helping 

 hand, he must needs work the matter out for himself, 

 and trust to his own tact and common sense to discover 

 these tiny organisms where the eye of the uninitiated 

 would see only a dirty spot, and at the same time to 

 separate the worthless from the valuable.* By taking 

 trouble at first to inspect the leaves in a living condition, 

 he will soon get to notice those in which the Chlorophyll 

 is beginning to fail, and which have in consequence a 

 sickly appearance ; an almost sure sign that the germs of 



* I take this opportunity of commending to the notice of the 

 mycological student, Mr. M. C. Cooke's admirable manuals, 'A Plain 

 and Easy Account of British Fungi,' and ' An Introduction to the 

 Study of Microscopic Fungi.' (Hardwicke.) The research displayed 

 is only equalled by the clearness with which the results of the 

 author's investigations are placed before the reader. To the beginner, 

 especially, they will prove invaluable aids. — Ed. 



