| # MICRO-FUNGI: WHEN AND WHERE TO FIND THEM by ## Thomas Brittain 1882

### Plate I Figure I is a representation of the usually scattered positions assumed by the Goatsbeard Clustercups, Aecidium Tragopogonis. When infested it is usually found that nearly every leaf of the plant is thus spotted over with the fungus. The clustercups are bright orange in colour. The Anemone Clustercups, Aecidium leucospermum, posses a similar arrangement of the cups, but they are chiefly aggregated towards the edges of the leaves, and are, when growing on the leaf, a pure white. This scattered arrangement is found in Aecidium Epilobii, and numerous other clustercups. In Ranunculus Clustercups the cups are collected in more or less round patches, as is also the case with Barberry Clustercups. In nettles and some other plants, the parasite attacks the stalks, and has an injurious effect upon the sap, when the stalks become swollen and distorted. Other and various arrangements of position of clustercups on plants will be met with by the student. Figure II represents a side view of two clustercups of Aecidium leucospermum. This view can easily be obtained by cutting a section across the leaf. In the Barberry Clustercup the fungus is much more elongated. The various species differ considerably as to what may be called the height to which they grow. Figure III represents a section of Aecidium Grossulariae; from my cabinet, an admirable preparation by John Barrow Esq., of Manchester. The cup is partially open, and spores are rising to escape. We see but comparatively few spores, as doubtless a large quantity of them would escape during the preparation of the object. Figure IV This represents the postiton of Raestelia cornuta, as seen upon the leaf of mountain ash. Other species of Raestelia vary as to the position they assume on the plant. The one on the hawthorn, Raestelia lacerata, generally distorts the smaller twigs. Figure V represents a fragment of Peronospora infestans, copied from a slide in my cabinet. The spores of the different members of the genus differ somewhat as to the mode of their arrangement, as also in size and shape. Figure VI represents Aerisiphe lamprocarpa, a fungus found upon various plants, amongst them Salsify, Scorzonera and Plantain. It belongs to a very interesting group of microscopic plants, with radiating appendages, all worthy of careful study, and some of singular beauty. Figure VIa represents an ascus or fruit-bearing vessel of Aerisiphe lamprocarpa, with its two sporidia as usually seen.

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