Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 26.djvu/638

620 genus has passed away, because founded upon a single condition which any species may assume for self-preservation. The fine threads of various toadstools frequently become joined in long, hard masses, and may be found at the base of almost any decaying stump. It is not unreasonable to suppose that a fungus, otherwise short-lived, may survive the trying circumstances of heat and cold for a score or more of years in this hibernating state.



The spawn of the common mushroom is a familiar example, to many, of the apparently lifeless condition which the threads of a fungus may assume. This spawn, consisting of the dried filaments of the mushroom, is sold in bricks, and afterward placed in beds which supply the proper heat, moisture, and nourishment for the growth of the edible mushrooms. Yeast, representing the smaller kinds of fungi, can also be kept in dried cakes, ready at an hour's notice to spring into activity and make our bread light and wholesome. It would be interesting to descend lower in the scale of plant organization (if it is lower), and see even among the bacteria, now brought so prominently before the world by the labors of Pasteur and Koch, that these minute organisms, after exhausting the nourishment from a liquid, form a precipitate, which may be regarded as a resting state. Enough, however, has been given to show that fungi, though a humble group of plants, do not lack for methods of rapid increase when favorable conditions prevail, and have abundant means for sustaining life during periods when growth is impossible.