Hybernation of Fungi. 291 



num to the Penicillium. It had, however, been observed for 

 some time that various hynienoinycetous fungi were constantly 

 connected with Sclerotia, and, in some cases, as hi 

 Agaricus tuberosus, Typlmla erythropus, and Peziza 

 tuberosa, the connection was so intimate, that it 

 was matter of doubt whether the one was not a 

 mere condition of the other. It has been left for 

 modern observers to confirm this notion com- 

 pletely, and it is now well ascertained that plants 

 of various affinities are capable of assuming a scle- 

 rotioid condition, in which they pass a greater or 

 less time, according to circumstances, until a fa- 

 vourable opportunity arises for their complete de- 

 velopment. p I& . 5. 



Though many observations have already been Typliula ery- 

 made, much remains to be done, and we can tfaopus, not. 

 scarcely conceive any more full of interest to the 

 mycologist than those which may be made amongst these curi- 

 ous productions. 



Sclerotia occur everywhere amongst decaying vegetable 

 matter. The surface of the stems of our large herbaceous 

 plants yield more than one ; their pith, as for example, that of 

 the sunflower or bulrush, yields others ; several may be found 

 on carrots and other roots, or tubers heaped up in cellars, and two 

 at least on bulbs of onions in the garden. The tan of our stoves 

 is frequently productive, the cow dung which has been exposed 

 to the weather in our fields, decaying leaves, in woods and gar- 

 dens, bletting or mouldy fruit, the roots of mosses, but more 

 especially large decaying fungi like Lactarius aclustus, which 

 are driven about by the winds in our woods, afford a multi- 

 plicity of subjects for experiment. It may be remarked that 

 many Sphcerice in an early state of growth, as Spliceria pliceo- 

 comes, for instance, appear under the form of Sclerotia. In- 

 deed, many of the compound species either assume at times 

 sclerotioid character, or the parts of the stroma which are 

 ultimately destined to produce the asci, consist at first of a uni- 

 form cellular mass. This is especially observable in the genus 

 Dothidea and Hypocrea, imperfect individuals of which might be 

 referred without violence to the genus. 



Nor must we pass unnoticed the productions of a similar 

 nature which occur on anatomical preparations left for macera- 

 tion or preserved in weak spirit. Even living bodies are not 

 entirely without such organisms, or at least some which simu- 

 late them very closely. The fungus-foot of India, of which 

 such an interesting account was published by Dr. Carter of 

 Bombay, last year, is a case in point, though we are not certain 

 whether the dark truffle-like bodies, some of them as large as 



