lii Journal of Proceedings.
made to do duty for a Lichen vegetating outside the Cathedral dome 1
It unfortunately happened that no room could be found for my rejoinder,
so the readers were left in a sort of limbus fatuorum. It is not so well
known as it should be that there is a sort of " Salvation Army " amongst
biologists, with "Generals" and other paid officers, and that what
these gentlemen cannot effect by argument and reason they try to
accomplish by sound and fury, by the banging of the big drum, by
the flaunting of banners, and by allowing (when possible) no side but
their own to be heard.
In conclusion I will refer to some of the Fungi given to drink. Most
Fungi are partial to moisture, but some are followers of Father Matthew,
and revel in water; such are Mitrula paludosa, Vibrissea truncorum, and
some others. Hitherto the more marshy parts of the Forest have been
rich in the production of the various Agarics found only in wet and
boggy positions. As we are told the Forest is to be gradually drained and
unnaturalised, so that London excursionists and dandies may never get
the polish taken off their boots, all these curious marsh denizens must
ultimately disappear. Some Fungi prefer '' heavy wet " of a different
nature. For instance, there are some Fungi which especially attack corks
of wine bottles; they bore through the substance of the cork and then
attack the wine; in fact, these Fungi practise the trick well known to wine
merchants under the name of '' sucking the monkey.'' I am hardly at
liberty to consider the Fungi which grow on the dregs of wine and beer
as true topers; they may be classed with the Fungus found only on
spent hops, and named Peziza theleboloides, or to the degenerate
teetotaller named Agaricus coffeatus, which is only seen on coffee
grounds. A Fungus named Zasmidium cellare lives in wine and
other vaults ; fortunately, however, this species has not yet " acquired
the habit " of boring corks. Mr. Berkeley mentions a Fungus found in
strong Madeira wine ; it is a critical species, far too knowing to grow in
South African sherry, in which compound it has never yet been detected.
We all know how the Yeast Fungus ferments beer, and we have probably
all read Sir Joseph Banks' account of the Fungus which attacked the
cask of wine. The wine cellar enclosing the cask had been closed for
three years ; at the end of this period the door of the cellar was opened,
and it was then seen that the cask had been attacked and rotted by
Fungi, and that the Fungus growths had fattened on the wine as it
gradually leaked from the cask. The astounded butler was literally
petrified to the spot as he saw the huge wine-fed Fungi on the floor, and
the empty wine cask—more than a " little elevated "—pushed up to the
cellar roof on the heads of the Fungi.
Cider is sometimes attacked by Penicillium crustaceum, and some
large and choice specimens of this Fungus, presented by me to the
nation, may be seen in the public room of the Department of Botany at
the British Museum, South Kensington. The large Fungi grew naturally
within a sealed bottle of cider, where they still are. The non-fungo-
logical public gaze with wonder at the narrow-necked sealed bottle, and
cannot imagine how such large Fungi ever got in cider !
Mr. H. T. Wharton followed with a paper on a branch of practical
mycological research well worthy of attention, and which may be taken
as a companion essay to his paper read at the 1882 " Foray," printed in
the ' Proceedings,' vol. iii., pp. lxxiii-lxxvi;—