174 



The Fungi of Wiltshire. 



particular state of certain moulds. When placed in conditions 

 favourable to its growth, it spreads rapidly through the wort, or 

 dough, and carries the fermentation into every part. The vinegar 

 plant is another useful application of a Fungus, by which the acetic 

 fermentation can be induced at any time that is required. As a 

 medicine, the Ergot of grasses, or cereals, is celebrated, and its 

 action is so powerful, that when it has been consumed accidentally 

 in bread, it has been known to cause the loss of limbs to a whole 

 family by sloughing off. Rye, however, on which the Ergot chiefly 

 occurs, is not mucb used in making bread in this country, or such 

 cases might be more frequent than they are. The Ergot is now 

 known to be merely the mycelioid state of a Cordyceps, of which it 

 is easy to raise a crop, by sowing the Ergot in a pot, in autumn, 

 and keeping it till the following spring, when the heads of the 

 Cordyceps appear, rising from a quarter to half an inch above the 

 surface. The mycelium of Peziza aeruginosa stains the wood, on 

 which it grows, of a bright verdigris green, and advantage has been 

 taken of this fact by toy .-makers, specimens of whose work may be 

 seen in the Museum of the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew. 



Having given a few instances out of many that might be pro- 

 duced of the uses of Fungi in the economy of nature and art, we 

 may now turn attention to their modes of development, and repro- 

 duction, and then glance at their most recent systematic arrange- 

 ment. But before doing so, it will be as well to give some hints 

 as to the best mode of preserving them in the herbarium, for the 

 purposes of reference and study. 



All that is wanted to collect Fungi, is a light wicker basket for 

 the fleshy kinds, an ordinary botanical tin box for others, with 

 some smaller boxes, as pill boxes, for the more delicate ones, which 

 should be loosely wrapped in thin paper, a sharp knife for cutting 

 off bits from hard trunks, &c, and a common pocket lens. Large 

 woody Polypori, &c, are best dried whole, in a warm air ; it is well 

 however, to take a thin slice vertically through their substance, 

 which can be dried between paper, like other plants ; this will lie 

 flat in the herbarium, and exhibit the nature of the pores, and 

 inner substance of the pileus, whilst thick entire specimens must 



