PESTS AND PABASITES. 



21 



It is scarcely necessary to name all the parasitic fungi 

 whicli are found on ferns, or even all those known to have 

 been seen in Grreat Britain. There are, however, two oi 

 three others to which we will briefly allude. 



The dead stems of the Bracken sometimes bear a num- 

 ber of little waxy clubs, which are white and pellucid, 

 scarcely exceeding a quarter of an inch in length. These 

 clubs are a species of fungus,^ of a very different order 

 to those already named. 



A prettier object for the microscope is much more 

 common on Bracken stems lying upon the ground. This 

 consists of little cups, no larger than a small pin's head, 

 a minute Feziza which we first found at Darenth Wood, 

 and have since seen in other localities. Hitherto it has 

 not been recorded to be found in Great Britain, though 

 it has long been known in Trance. 



There is also a little creature which deserves to be 

 mentioned, and which is a great pest to ferns and other 

 plants when dried for the herbarium. This is the little 

 Apropos, one of the insects known as the " death-watch," 

 from the peculiar ticking noise which it is said to cause. 

 Whether or not this little insect is capable of making the 

 noise attributed to it is considered by many entomologists 

 as doubtful. No one has ever doubted its being a little 

 nuisance when it establishes itself amongst dried plantiB. 



Fig, 10. 



^ iPistillaria puherul^. 



