
566 THE SMALLER FUNGI. 
indeed very variable both in size and form, though the ma- - 
jority are comparatively large. Each of these bodies is, 
doubtless, capable of reproducing its species, and if we com- 
pute 2,000 cluster-cups as occurring on each leaf, and we 
have found half as many more on an ordinary sized leaf, and 
suppose each cup to contain 250,000 spores, which again is 
below the actual number, then we have not less than five 
hundred millions of reproductive bodies on one leaf of the 
Goat’s-beard to furnish a crop of parasites for the plants of 
the succeeding year. We must reckon by millions, and our 
figures and faculties fail in appreciating the. myriads of 
spores which compose the orange dust produced upon one 
infected cluster of plants of Tragopogon. Nor is this all, 
for our number represents only the actual proto-spores which 
are contained within the cups; each of these, on germina- 
tion, may produce not only one but many vegetative apon 
(sprouting buds), which are exceedingly minute, and indi- 
vidually may be regarded as embryos of a fresh crop of 
cluster-cups.” (pp. 7,8 
- The stems and leaves of the sweet violets, and of the sev- 
eral scentless ones beside, are distorted and ruined by other 
cluster-cups ; the stinging nettle does not escape; the hardy 
dock, the useful currant, the wild’ geranium alike, feed with 
their juices other kinds, and a wide field of observation § 
offered to the lover of the microscope, to detect and discover 
other and yet unknown native sorts. However, “let ai 
warn the young student against falling into the error of sup- 
posing, because the specific name of the fungus is derived 
from the plant it infests, that therefore the species ae 
with that of the plant, and that as a rule he may anticipate 
meeting with a distinct species of fungus on every distinct 
species of plant, or that the parasite which he encounters o 
the living leaves of any one plant is necessarily specie’ 
distinct from those found on all other plants. The my er 
gist* will look to the specific differences in the parasite wit 
* Mycologist, one who exclusively studies fungi. 

