A FUNGUS PHANTASY. 
285 
or otherwise. The interference with hearing caused by bodily 
affections, as diseases of the abdominal viscera, and febrile 
affections, may be largely caused by the sympathetic affection 
of the auditory nerve, though they frequently depend upon 
partial or complete occlusion of the Eustachian tube and 
external meatus by the congestion of their walls or 
surroundings. 
(To be continued.) 
A FUNGUS PHANTASY. 
Vertumnus speaks:— 
This is the fated day when toadstools grim, 
And harmless mushrooms, in sad livery dim, 
Meet on October's brown and sodden banks, 
Exchange their confidences and re-tell, 
In murmurs husky, what to each befell, 
Since last the Woolhope thinned their gathering ranks. 
“Oh ! a merry, merry crew are we, 
What pranks on the men we play ! 
Bacillus the slim, Bacterium stout, 
Staid Coccus, and Vibrio gay. 
In France and in Spain we have been, 
And revelled ’neath Italy’s skies ; 
We compass the world with our terrible band, 
And hide in most varied disguise.” 
“ Wilt list to the lay of a Myxomycete ? 
A fungus primordial I; 
Of race undefined, half-animal still, 
To class me in vain you may try. 
Not even a Zopf the enigma can read, 
Nor De Bary my lineage tell; 
So gruff Rostafinski the riddle has shirked, 
And Sachs has been puzzled as well.” 
“Petted and cultured, a glorious fate, 
Ours is a destiny certainly great. 
Specialist, amateur, all hold us dear, 
Only the farmer and gardener fear. 
Neatest of all, on leaves living we riot, 
Not, as the mob, confined to one diet; 
We travel in state, and enjoyment derive, 
Though our hosts be reluctant, we fatten and thrive.” 
