tion to Dr. Hume's undertaking that, in his concluding paper, he would "prove that no such eruption, or translation, as alleged, had ever taken "place from Chat Moss." I quote from the report in the Daily Courier, 10th November, 1865. How far this pledge has been redeemed the reader can judge. At the meeting of the Polytechnic Society on 12th March, Dr. Hume denied having given this pledge; but my own recol· lection and the testimony of other gentlemen present on the occasion corroborate the accuracy of the Courier's report. If such a statement was incorrect why did not Dr. Hume have the error amended at the time, when, according to his phraseology, he was " publicly appealed to?" If he does not amend every erroneous statement connected with his own name, why should he expect "the eight gentlemen" to correct the statement, also in the Courier, concerning the graveyard? Leland's account of Chat Moss will be found in the third edition, 1769-70, vol. 5, p. 95, fol. 83; and vol. 7, p. 48, fol. 56. It will be seen that in the quotation given in April, 1865, the spelling is also varied.]

ON THE MICROSCOPIC FUNGI OF THE DISTRICT

AROUND LIVERPOOL.

By R. G. McLeod Esq.

(READ 1ST FEBRUARY, 1866.)

No apology is needed, I presume, for bringing such a subject before the notice of the Historic Society.

The micro-fungi form a department of Cryptogamic botany, which up to the present time has been totally neglected by our local botanists; the reason, without doubt, that has deterred them from turning their attention to this interesting study, is the absence of all literature in the English language containing specific descriptions of these minute plants. The want of a proper guide to the systematic study of this diminutive flora has been much felt. That want, to a certain extent, has now been supplied by Mr. M. C. Cook of London, who has published a handbook to the microscopic fungi parasitic on living plants, to which particular branch this paper is principally confined.

The micro-fungi, many of which attack other vegetables in the early stages of their growth, are known popularly by the names of blights, brands and mildews. They are chiefly found upon the leaves and other annual productions of plants. They are very minute, but remarkably prolific, affording extraordinary instances of the vast number of distinct individual lives which can be accumulated in an exceedingly small space. According to estimates deduced from the most careful investigations, it has been ascertained that a single cubic inch will contain a progeny of more than two hundred and nineteen thousand five hundred and twenty

trillion spores or germs of vegetation-a number not only greater than that of all the human beings, but of all the warm-blooded animals that ever lived upon the earth since the moment of its creation. In consequence of their minuteness, they are dispersed through the atmosphere, not like smoke merely, but like invisible vapour.

The question is naturally asked, why this prodigious fecundity? why this immense profusion? The answer is this. The fungi, as a class, perform a highly useful office in creation. Existing only by the absorption of fœtid exhalations, and rapidly depriving them of their insalubrious properties, they execute duties analogous to those of certain tribes of insects, and in this respect have been appropriately associated with these animals as the scavengers of nature. How disgusting to the eye, how offensive to the smell would be the whole face of nature were the vast quantity of putrid and decaying matter, daily falling to the earth from various sources, suffered to remain until gradually dissolved by the rain or decomposed by the elements! That it does not thus offend us, we are indebted to inconceivable hosts of scavengers, both animal and VEGETABLE, which attack it the moment it falls, and speedily consume all the liquid and noisome particles, leaving nothing but the dry dust, which is soon scattered by the winds. With regard to the parasitic fungi, a difference of opinion exists amongst naturalists as to whether they are the cause or effect of disease. Some think that the spores of fungi, coming into contact with the plant, act both as the predisposing and exciting cause of disease; others, without doubt more correctly, think that some change is first produced in the cells of the plant which enables the spores to find a nidus, and then the disease goes on rapidly, assuming a peculiar type on account of the presence of the fungus; in the same way as vegetable organisms, found in diseases of the skin, are not to be looked upon as the origin

of the disease, but as being developed in textures previously morbid, and as giving often a peculiar character to the disease. Berkely attributes the potato disease entirely to fungi. With all due deference to so learned an authority, I beg to differ. The view which seems to be most consonant with the phenomena is, that changes are induced by cultivation in the cells of the potato which render it liable to disease. Atmospheric influences are thus enabled to act upon it so as to cause alterations in its cells; putrefying azotised matter accumulates and is carried to all parts of the plant, causing a struggle between vital and chemical forces, inducing decomposition by a process of fermentation. The azotised matter, in a condition to act as ferment, is produced by the state of the season, deficiency of light, rainy weather and other meteorological causes. The moment decomposition sets in, the spores of the fungi, true to their instinct, awake to their work. So let it be clearly understood that their province is not to cut down the strength or impede the healthy growth or action of any one production of nature; for that would display an imperfection in the system altogether inconsistent with and unworthy of its divine origin. It is only when, in consequence of a local or temporary cause, some organic being, or PART OF AN ORGANIC being, is in excess of what the healthy condition of its species can bear in the proper balance of the system, and is therefore unwholesome, in short, when putrefaction would ensue and produce either a poisoning or a waste, that the spore of the fungus awakens to its duty. Thus we see that the spore of a fungus, only the of an inch, though a small matter in itself, is of vast importance in the economy of nature in maintaining the balance of life. So do we see that mankind are the fools of their senses as to great and small; and that the sooner that vulgar prejudice which despises minuteness and idolizes magnitude; is made aware that these are only com

1

219,520,000,000,000,000

K

parative terms the better; for even philosophers themselves often yield unconsciously to the impressions that magnitude is calculated to produce on our external senses.

In conclusion, allow me to hope that we shall soon have numerous workers in this new and interesting branch of microscopic research. If any one thirst for discovery, he will be certain to meet with success in this comparatively unknown field; for within the last twelve months five new species have been discovered by myself in the neighbourhood of Liverpool. Certainly some of the micro-fungi are the most unpromising objects to the naked eye which could well be imagined; but let us bring the highest powers of our microscopes to bear upon them, and we shall not fail to exclaim with the poet

"These are thy glorious works, Parent of Good;
Thyself how wondrous then!

To us invisible, or dimly seen

In these thy lowest works; yet these declare

Thy goodness beyond thought and power divine!"

ECIDIACEI.

GENUS ECIDIUM,

E. Albesceus, Grev.-Moschatel cluster cups; on leaves and petioles of Adoxa moschatellina; not uncommon. April. E. Epilobii, D. C.-Willow herb cluster cups; on the under side of leaves of Epilobium montanum, rarely on the upper; common. June to August.

E. Tragopogonis, Pers.-On stems, leaves and involucres of Tragopogon pratensis; common on the shores of the Mersey. May to June.

E. Berberidis, Pers.-Berberry cluster cups; on leaves of Berberis vulgaris; not common. May to July.

E. Periclymeni, D. C.-Honeysuckle cluster cups; on leaves of Lonicera Periclymenum; not common. June to August. Ecidium Ranunculacearum, D. C.-Crow foot cluster cups; on leaves of R. ficaria, &c.; not common. Spring.