















De 
AMERICAN NATURALIST. 
. Vol. II.—JANUARY, 1869.—No. 11. 
COAGORVODIY 
THE SMALLER FUNGI.* 
BY JOHN L. RUSSELL. 
_ ALMost everybody supposes that there can be no doubt as 
to what a toadstool, a mildew or a mould is, and some may 
even correctly call them fungi, if they are acquainted with the 
Latin word, which denotes them. Rust on grain, and smut 
_ maize or Indian corn, are also familiar to farmers, but a 
_ Multitude of other of the smaller fungi, are only known to 
a the botanist. An accurate knowledge of them is to be found 
: only with the mycologist, who as a botanist, devotes unceas- 
_ ‘|g and strict attention to. this particular department of 
; hatural history. Abroad it is to the researches of many 
éminent men and women on the continent and Great Britain, 
and in this country to several others both dead and living, 
that the structure, mode of growth, relation to the various 
ents of industry, injurious effects and general utility 
Of these smaller fungi in nature, are collected and known. 
_ As plants, though of a very low order of organization, the 
‘maller fungi treated of in the work before us, are of great 
’ interest as mere objects of beauty. To attain a full compre- 
hension of this fact, recourse must be had to the microscope, 
es OC ee ae 
7 
t sanie Fungi 

fase *Rast, Smut, Mil a al $ $ om 2 
O y dew and Mould. An Introducti: yo oe 
Entered acco ACADEMY OF 
Sctexce. rding to gress, i by the PEABODY 
AMER in the Clerk's Ole a aa n ie Court Of ie District of ee 
: NATURALIST, VOL. I. (561) 
