The examiner. [volume] (Louisville, Ky.) 1847-1849, 1847-10-16
The FrsGus FAnILY.-For the singh

The FpsGus FAMILY.-For the single
mushroom that we eat how many hundreds
there be that retaliate and prey upon US in
return To enumerate but few, and these
Of the microscopic kinds, ION the other
side, are some which the arms can scarcely
embrace,) the Mucor Muoedo, that spawns
upon our dried preserves; the Ascophora
lMucedo, that makes Our bread mouldy;
(mucida frustra farina,) the Uredo sege
tun,, that burns Ceres out of her own COM
fields; the Uredo rubigo, whose rust is
still more destructive and the Puccinia
graminis, whose voracity sets com-laws
and farmers at defiance, are all funguses !
So is the grey Monilia, that rots, and then
fattens upon, our fruits; and the Muoor
herbariorum. that destroys the careful
gleanings Of the painstaking boianist.-
When our beer becomes mothery, the moth
er OF that mischief is fungus. If pickles
acquire bad taste, if ketchup turns ropy
and putrefes, funguses have a finger in it
all Their reign stops not here: they
tprey upon each other: they even select
their victims There is the Myrothecium
riride, which will only grow upon dry
Agarics, Preferring, chiefly, for this pur-
pose, the Il. adustus. The Mucor chrysos-
permus, which attacks the flesh Of a particu-
lar Boletus; the Sclerotium cornutum,
which visits some other moist mushrooms
in decay. There are some Xylomas that
will spot the leaves Of the maple, and some
those Of the willow, exclusively. The ma
ked seeds of some are found burrowing be-
tween the opposite surfaces of leaves; some
love the neighborhood Of burnt stubble and
charred wood some visit the sculptor in
his studio, growing up amidst the heaps Of
moistened marble dust that have caked and
consolidated under his saw. The Raoodi-
um Of the low cellar festoons its ceiling,
shags its walls, and wraps its thick coat
round our wine casks, keeping our Oldest
wine in closest bond while the Ge-aarum.
aspiring occasionally to leave this earth, has
been found suspended. like Mahomet's col.
fin, between it and the stars, on the very
highest pinnacle OF st. Pauls. The close
cavities Of nuts occasionally afford conceal.
ment to some species; Others, like leeches,
stick to the bulbs of plants and suck them
dry; these Che architects and ship builder 5
bane,) pick timber to pieces, as men pick
oakum; nor do they con6ne their ravages
to plants alone, they attach themselves to
animal structures and destroy animal life +; /
the Orygena eqnina has particular fancy
for the hoofs Of horses and for the horns OIL
cattle, sticking to these alone; the belly of
a tropical fly is liable in autumn to break
out into vegetable tufts Of fungous growth
and the caterpillar to carry about on his
body Clardria larger than himself. The
disease called Muscadine, which DESTROYS 50
many silk worms, is also fungus, (Botry-
It's Bassiana,) which in a very short time
fills the worm with filaments
very unlike those it is in the habit of secret
ing. Lastly, and to take breath.
funguses visit the wards of our hospitals
and grow out Of the products Of surgical
disease. Where, then, are they not to be
found? Do they not abound, like Pha-
roahs plaques, everywhere? Is not their
name legion, and their province ubiquity p
DIR. Badham's Treatise on Fanguses.