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1 
in fact, it is, as has been before stated, rather the medium in which Fungi and 
Algse are developed that distinguishes them, than any peculiarity in their own 
organisation ; for instance, the aerial Byssaceae are nearly the same in struc- 
ture as the aquatic Hydronematese. While there is so near an approximation 
of these families to each other, particularly in the simplest forms, it is impor- 
tant to remark that no spontaneous motion has been observed in Fungi, which, 
therefore, cannot be considered so closely allied to the animal kingdom as Alg0e„ 
notwithstanding the presence of azote in them, and the near resemblance of 
the substance by chemists called Fungin, to animal matter. 
Fungi are almost universally found growing upon decayed animal or vege- 
table substances, and scarcely ever upon living bodies of either kingdom ; in 
which respect they differ from Lichens, which very commonly grow upon the 
li\dng bark of trees. Tliey are, however, not confined to dead or putrid sub- 
stances, as is shown by their attacking various plants when in a state of per- 
fect life and vigour. In their simplest form they are little articulated filaments, 
composed of simple cellules placed end to end ; such is the mouldiness that is 
found upon various substances, the mildew of the Rose-bush, and, in short, aU. 
the tribes of Mucor and Mucedo ; in some of these the joints disarticulate, and 
appear to be capable of reproduction ; in others sporules collect in the terminal 
joints, and are finally dispersed by the rupture of the cellule that contained 
them. In a higher state of composition. Fungi are masses of cellular tissue 
of a determinate figure, the whole centre of which consists of sporules either 
lying naked among filaments, as in the Puff-balls, or contained in membranous 
tubes or sporidia, like the thecee of Lichens, as in the Spheerias. In their most 
complete state they consist of two surfaces, one of which is even and imperfo- 
rate, like the cortical layer in Lichens ; the other separated into plates or cells, 
and called the hymenium, in which the sporules are deposited. 
Upon this kind of difference of structure. Fungi have not only been di- 
vided into distinctly marked tribes, but it has been proposed to separate certain 
orders from them under the name of Byssaceae, Gasteromyci, and Hypoxyla : 
the first comprehending the filamentous Fungi found in cellars, and similar 
plants ; the second Lycoperdons and the like ; and the third species which 
approach Lichens in the formation of a distinct nucleus for the sporules, 
such as Spheeria. But Fries refers the first to Lichens, and the two last to 
Fungi. 
Some writers have questioned the propriety of considering Fungi as plants, 
and have proposed to establish them as an independent kingdom, equally dis- 
tinct from animals and vegetables ; others have entertained doubts of their 
being more than mere fortuitous developements of vegetable matter, called into 
action by special conditions of light, heat, earth, and air — doubts which have 
been caused by some remarkable circumstances connected with their develope- 
ment, the most material of which are the following : they grow with a degree 
of rapidity unknown in other plants, acquiring the volume of many inches in 
the space of a night, and are frequently meteoric, that is, spring up after 
storms, or only in particular states of the atmosphere. It is possible to increase 
particular species with certainty, by an ascertained mixture of organic and inor- 
ganic matter exposed to well-known atmospheric conditions, as is proved by the 
process adopted by gardeners for obtaining Agaricus campestris, a process so 
certain, that no one ever saw any other kind of Agaricus produced in Mush- 
room-beds ; this could not happen if the Mushroom sprang from seeds or 
sporules floating in the air, as in that case many species would necessarily be 
mixed together ; Fungi are often produced constantly upon the same kind of 
matter, and upon nothing else, such as the species that are parasitic upon 
leaves : all which is considered strong evidence of the production of Fungi 
being accidental, and not analogous to that of perfect plants. Fries, how^ 
