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That these fungi are sometimes purely meteoric, is proven by their fastening upon iron and rapidly extending themselves; here the matter is manifestly conveyed to them by the air and moisture. Many Polypori, too, grow on hard tufa of volcanoes without a particle of organic matter. Nevertheless, unhealthy conditions of air, soils, and the object attacked, we have often seen to be true concomitants, so that in most cases they may be deemed consequences, rather than causes, if one prefers that view of the subject-our chief concern being a review of the facts. Some of them, indeed, require certain specific conditions so well known that they can be grown to order, leading shrewd observers to the plausible conjecture that they are of spontaneous generation.

Berkley and McMillan, from whom we collate, mention that in Italy a kind of Polyporus, greatly relished, is grown simply by singeing the stump or stems of hazel-nut trees and placing them in a moist, dark cellar; other instances of extinct fires being followed by fungoid scavengers, imps of the pit, are too well known. Now, as charcoal and other black bodies absorb many hundred times their own bulk of fœtid gases-for the color, black, is philosophically and devilishly filthy, and it ardently desires or affiliates with, and pertinaciously clings to foul air and odors; and, as a very fiend, only yields them up readily as contagion, eluding, perchance, the alchemist's wand-the vile spell is hardly broken but by that great power of the universe, heat. Hence we see why they make such apt servants and meteoric media. for their masters, the Fungi. These plants and other parasites sometimes invade living organisms, both animal and vegetable, in their most vigorous state, but we may safely say, in general terms, that whatever fouls or lowers the standard of life in the human, in the animal, or in the plant, surely invites these disorder-inspecting gnomes from beneath; which move to and fro in the earth-messengers of the shades!-ready to alight upon and claim as their own all such trenchers upon the outer realms of death. It is therefore

not wise, neither naturally, morally nor spiritually, to venture too near that other place.

I well recollect, many years since, while residing in the pine forests of Russell county, Alabama, one of my neighbors (Oliver) was desperately annoyed by some mysterious fœtor, like carrion-only more so. A general search was instituted, and at length an abominable fungus was found growing beneath the steps of his log cabin. I have only known of two instances of this kind. It may, however, be common in the piney wood sections of our country. This is a species of Clathrus, a putrid, revolting, jelly-like mass of raw flesh just beneath the loosely-lifted soil. It diffuses such a loathsome stench that none could endure it.

One might object that this stench was owing to its putrid state; not so at all; it is the natural fœtor of the fungus, just as we find in our common pole-cat weed and cabbage, several arums, stapelias, etc. Unless the hiding place of this pest is discovered-and little peace is likely to come to the premises until it is—and the intolerable nuisance abated, with its surroundings, they are apt to repeat themselves. There is a popular superstition that if any one should accidentally touch this monstrous mass it would produce cancer. Hence the custom of carefully covering it over with leaves, moss, earth, etc., to prevent the possibility of a contagion. Now, whatever we may think of such superstitions, let us respect—I had almost said reverence-the intuitive promptings from that purer and better world within and above this lower region of filth and contagion, which causes the sensitive and tidy spirit to shudder at, shrink back from and shun such exposures.

We do most solemnly warn the reader that the most vigorous health may not too rashly presume upon a forced, foolhardy or wanton and careless contact with these, or with those other fungi-the moral mildews, moulds and blites of man's paradise.

Recent researches seem to show us how little we yet know,

and well do they warn us not to form too hasty conclusions; nevertheless, with one voice they proclaim these fungi to be more abundant and much more important than is commonly supposed. They are undoubtedly the secret or obscure and often unsuspected proximate causes of many diseases of animals and of man-operating either directly or indirectly. We have already seen that the ergot fungus of ill-drained localities found on the Broom-grass (Bromus), and Meadow or Spear-grass (Poa), etc., but chiefly on the Rye, sadly deteriorates the blood in every degree from intoxication, inveterate ulceration, and mortification to absolute death, or from first to last, both in man and animals. We cannot dwell here upon the indirect dangers of eating the flesh or drinking the milk of such disordered brutes; the effects are scarcely less deleterious than the fungus itself.

These remarks are true in general as respects other causes or other kinds of vicious vegetation. The black dust of hay fields alluded to (Ustilago hypodytes) acts directly, throwing one into a most violent and dangerous fever; so also, the spore dust of the common blue mould (Pencillium), as in the case of the coopers previously mentioned. Thus we see that these plants act powerfully and strangely on man, whether their etherial fumes are inspired, snuffed, or their substances taken into the stomach, or even vegetate on the outer or inner surfaces of the body. They are also known to abound in the lungs of web-footed quacks, and the brains of many animals, but we believe they rarely reach the brains of some Esculapians.

A French chemist and botanist, M. Dutrochet (as quoted by the Rev. E. Sidney), says he found every sort of vegetable matter, with only a drop or so of almost any acid, yielded a mould; but when albumen contained a neutral salt none appeared. If salts of mercury are present the mould is stopped. On the contrary oxides of lead hasten it; oxides of copper, nickel and cobalt retard it; oxides of iron,

zine, antimony and other minerals have no effect; all perfumes stop it.

Passing in this flying review some of the lower forms of flowerless plants of forests and fields, with a few parasites on man and animals, only touching here and there an interesting and suggestive fact, we finally offer a word on those found upon our farm fixtures, houses, and especially all timber structures, although not confined to them alone, for even the wall, in the pride of its strength, crumblingly bows beneath their stealthy tread.

Builders have a woful knowledge of numerous fungi found on wood, e. g. the Polyporus destructor, truly as its specific name signifies, a destroyer; also P. thelephora, from a Greek word, meaning nipple, by reason of its teated surface; and P. sporothricum, from the little pore-tubes having hairy filaments hanging out; the one, however, most familiar to me from my earliest recollection is the Weeping Morel (Merulius lachrymans), a crying evil. Both this and the M. vastator are sufficiently devastating to all timbers in warm, moist situations where there is no free circulation of air, as in hollow trees, cellars, wainscoting, timbers of ships, sills, sleepers, etc. These invaders, little less than legion, all pass under one common designation, the dry rot.

Weeping morels at first appear in a white spot, or point, spreading their filaments flat over the surface of the timber in rounded white cottony patches from one to eight inches broad, and so onwards; near maturity it forms folds of yellow, orange or brown, weeping Madeira wine colored tears; they soon after mature myriads of dirty, rusty-colored sporules which spread destruction far and wide; wood, books and walls crumble in its consuming path; buildings often, though taken down and the stones scraped and fired, scarcely suffice to stay the scourge. Is this the leprosy of the wall spoken of in Leviticus? Heat applied to dry wood only hastens the malady. It can be forestalled by cutting the timber in winter when the sap is out; and, better still, by immersion in

water for a long time, to fully supplant or extract the entire juices, as is often practiced by the best ship-builders and honest wheelwrights, carpenters, etc., who regard a worthy and enduring reputation. It is said that the ships in the Crimea Sea suffered more from this insidious foe than from the ravages of fire, or the shots and shells of their enemies. We have seen samples of this light, crumbly, papery shelled wood, with its weight and strength totally consumed.

A strong wash of corrosive sublimate solution over the timbers of cellars on which these deliquescent or weeping morels so dampen it, are at once rendered dry, and the evil often entirely arrested in the midst of its havoc.

Lastly, most of us have heard, and many have no doubt seen, specimens purporting to be a caterpillar turned into a plant, or some such similar foolishness. We have one in the herbarium which any one may see at their leisure. This is one of those parasitic fungi, that rob and kill in order to supplant and live on others gains; the dying grub's head never sprouts up as a plant, but the seeds or spores of the Spheria Robertsii alight upon the caterpillar of a moth, the Hepialus, when it buries itself in the mossy woods to undergo metamorphosis, and by its growth destroys the napping grub. Two species of these are used by the Chinese, who sell them in bundles of eight or nine, with the worms attached, which they place in the stomach of a duck and roast for the patient to eat.

VARIATIONS OF SPECIES.

BY A. H. CURTISS.

IN the March number of the NATURALIST we observe an account of a remarkable growth of Bidens chrysanthemoides, and as the writer seems to fear that his story may be considered an exaggeration, we come to his support with one

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