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CHAPTER II.

NATURE OF FUNGI.

Having given some general notions of the objects of whichit is proposed to render an account in this volume, I proceedto such considerations as to their nature, mode of growth,propagation, uses, properties, distribution, and structure, asmay come within the scope of an essentially popular treatise,and so far as they can he explained without entering intoabstruse discussions, which require a considerable portion ofprevious knowledge.

The most prominent question which arises naturally maybe stated as follows:—Are these productions members of theVegetable Kingdom equally with the leaf-bearing plants withwhich we arc all so familiar; are the species as truly speciesas those which we meet with amongst them, or are Fungimere creatures of accident, without any stability of character,and incapable of any rational arrangement ?

Taking Fungi as a whole, there is not a shadow of doubtas to their being true vegetables. Discussions, indeed, oncetook place in consequence of erroneous observations respect-ing some supposed spontaneous motion in their reproduc-tive bodies, as seen under the microscope, as to whether theymight not be built up by little animals after the fashion