supported in this view by Fries, than -whom no one is more
eminent for tact and nice discrimination, it is right that I
should not speak too positively, as the two brothers Tulasne,
who have contributed so much to our knowledge of Fungi,
incline rather, as it should seem, to De Bary’s views, which
they corroborate in some degree by the fact that many of these
productions contain in their outer coat such a notable quantity
of carbonate of lime, that a strong effervescence takes place
on the application of sulphuric acid.'
Setting, however, the Myxogastres aside, there is now no
question as to the rest. As regards mere substance and
duration, undoubted Phanogams vary almost as much as
Fungi themselves, while one or two groups of Phmnogams, as
Rafflesiacem and Balanophora, of which an example is given
(Plate 2, fig. 8), approach in form, substance, parasitic growth,
comparative simplicity of structure, etc., in many respects to
Fungi. But notwithstanding such peculiarities, they are as
truly Phanogams as plants of other Orders, while in Fungi
there is a character which we believe is wholly without example
amongst Phanogams, viz. that they absorb oxygen when
exposed to light, and give out carbonic acid, in which particular
they resemble animals.
As regards the second point, whether the species are as
definite as in other acknowledged parts of the Vegetable Kingdom,
I answer without a moment’s hesitation that there is
in most cases far less difficulty in determining the limits of
species. Amongst the Polypori, indeed, the limits are often
very difficult to recognize, hut if we take the large group of
Agarics and its allies, with a few exceptions only, it may
without doubt be asserted that more certain species do not
exist in any part of the organized world than amongst Fungi.
The same species constantly recur in the same places, and
if kinds not hitherto detected present themselves, they are
either such as are well known in other districts, or species
which have been overlooked, and which are found on better
experience to he widely diffused. There is nothing like chance
about their characters or growth. I t is quite astonishing how
few new species have been met with in Sweden since the publication
of the ‘Epicrisis’ of Fries in 1838, though acute botanists
have studied them most accurately in the course of
the last twenty years, and especial attention has been lately
paid to them with a view to making as complete a collection
as possible of drawings of the fleshy or softer Fungi for the
hluseum at Stockholm, and of the few novelties which have
turned up, some have already occurred elsewhere.*
I t is therefore almost useless to advert to the third notion,
though a very common one, which would regard these productions
as the creatures of chance, or of a happy concurrence
of circumstances favourable to their growth from inorganic
elements. I t is true that they often occur in unexpected
situations, and from their extreme rapidity of development,
sometimes seem as if they could not have originated from
anything like seed ; hut as accurate inquiries have now thrown
light upon much of the mystery in which the origin of intestinal
worms was but lately involved, so the phenomena which
attend the growth of Fungi are gradually receiving light, and
they are found to follow essentially the same laws as more
perfect vegetables.
The notion of equivocal or spontaneous generation, indeed,
is now all but exploded amongst scientific men. The most
careful experiments show that, without pre-existent germs,
* Copies of many of these drawings have been forwarded to me by the HncT-
ness of Fries, and from these I have already been enabled to recognize one of
the vei*y few new species {Agaricus gliodermus) as British.