xlviii Journal of Proceedings.
known humorous style, the reading being often interrupted by hearty
bursts of laughter:—
The "Lower Orders" of Fungi.
by Worthington g. smith, f.l.s.
A considerable number of the nobler Fungi grow amongst grass in
open, upland, breezy plains and pastures. Some grow in delightful
glades, some by pleasant grassy roadsides, and others in well-kept
gardens and greenhouses. These plants belong to the "upper orders,"
or the "upper ten thousand" amongst Fungi. I now propose to say a
few words on the more numerous "lower orders" of Fungi—the
outcasts and parasites of fungoid "society"—the plebeian Funguses
with perverted, depraved, and seemingly unnatural tastes—the hangers-
on, the inebriate, the unclean, the dwellers in nasty places, and those
which live parasitically upon each other.
The student who selects the "lower orders" of Fungi for study must
be prepared for a certain amount of scoffing and derision from outsiders.
He must not be surprised if he hears sarcastic remarks, and he must
even be at times prepared for a little self-defence.
I will notice some of the Fungi with depraved tastes first. One of
these is Agaricus nauseosus, found by Fries growing on the carcase of a
defunct wolf. Another is the group of Agaricus ostreatus, found by Mr.
Plowright vegetating on the body of a stranded whale at King's
Lynn. It was a curious coincidence that the "Oyster Agaric" should
fix itself on a dead marine monster. A very degenerate Fungus, if
indeed it be one, is the resident in the human stomach, named Sarcina
ventriculi. Still viler are the Fungi which fix on the human head and
cause ringworm, or on the foot and cause the "Fungus foot" of India.
Mr. Berkeley tells us that it is no uncommon thing to find a somewhat
large Fungus named Coprinus on the dressings of amputated limbs in
hospitals. This is a horrible instance of a Fungus, whose natural
pabulum is the juices of manure, turning carnivorous and living on the
juices of the human body as found on the bandages of wounds. Another
objectionable parasite is the Fungus of the salmon disease, named
Saprolegnia ferax. When this low parasite cannot find noble salmon to
prey upon, it is said by some to pay its unwelcome attentions to our
common house flies, and in doing so fixes them to our window panes in
autumn. Some professors insist that this parasite, like Sarcina, is an
Alga, whilst other professors insist upon its being a Fungus, and the
younger the professor happens to be the more furiously he will fight for
his favourite name. Some older men, who believe with Mr. Huxley that
there is no distinct line of demarcation even between the animal and
vegetable kingdoms, consider it just possible that there may be no hard
and fast line between a Fungus and an Alga, and that Saprolegnia may
possibly occupy the debateable ground.
Most people will agree with me when I say that the Fungus named
Isaria arachnophila, which lives on dead spiders, is possessed of a
corrupt and vitiated taste. The name means, I suppose, "the Spider-
loving Isaria," but this can hardly be from the afflicted spiders'
point of view. One family of social ants, the Mermecidae, is
preyed upon by an unsocial Fungus, sarcastically named Torrubia
myrmecophila. Wasps, even in this country, are sometimes attacked,
whilst still alive, by the Isaria condition of the Fungus named
Torrubia sphecocephala. Some allied Fungi descend to still lower
depths, for the pretty little sluggish unobtrusive "American blight"
insect is often preyed upon by Microcera coccophila, or the "Coecus