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OF THE FUNGI. 
True, the very minute Fungi are not to be detected by 
the naked eye, or at least very rarely ; and it may seem 
superfluous to bid the young botanist search for what he 
cannot perceive. But in truth, though he cannot perhaps 
see them, he can see where they are ; he can see spots and 
lines and fissures and excrescences ; he can see distortions 
and discolouration s, all of which announce plainly that the 
little miner lias established himself, and is hard at work 
carrying out the mission entrusted to him by Providence- 
Of course judgment and discrimination are necessary here, 
as in every other department of science. Not every black 
spot on a cereal is an Ustilago, nor is every knob or 
distortion an Hysterium, or a Polycystis. Experience is, 
no doubt, of the greatest possible use ; and,, more than that,, 
it must be bought ; there is assuredly no 1 royal road ’ to 
a knowledge of the Fungi. Nevertheless the student will 
do well, if it lies in his power, to seek the advice and 
counsel of an older mycologist; so that, on his first few 
botanical trips, he may have some kind of notion regarding 
the characteristics of the minute Fungi. If he is not so 
fortunate as to have a friend, who can lend him a helping 
hand, he must needs work the matter out for himself,, 
and trust to his own tact and common sense to discover 
these tiny organisms where the eye of the uninitiated 
would see only a dirty spot, and at the same time to 
separate the worthless from the valuable.* By taking 
trouble at first to inspect the leaves in a living condition,, 
he will soon get to notice those in which the Chlorophyll 
is beginning to fail, and which have in consequence a 
sickly appearance ; an almost sure sign that the germs of 
* I take this opportunity of commending to the notice of the 
mycological student, Mr. M. C. Cooke’s admirable manuals, £ A Plain 
and Easy Account of British Fungi,’ and ‘ An Introduction to the 
Study of Microscopic Fungi.’ (Hardwicke.) The research displayed 
is only equalled by the clearness with which the results of the 
author’s investigations are placed before the reader. To the beginner;, 
especially, they will prove invaluable aids. — Ed. 
