In the Neilgherries (S. India), a substance is occasionally found
which is allied to the native bread of southern latitudes. It is found
at an elevation of 5,000 feet. The natives call it "a little man's
bread," in allusion to the tradition that the Neilgherries were once
peopled by a race of dwarfs.[AM] At first it was supposed that these
were the bulbs of some orchid, but later another view was held of
their character. Mr. Scott, who examined the specimens sent down to
him, remarks that, instead of being the product of orchids, it is that
of an underground fungus of the genus _Mylitta_. It indeed seems, he
says, very closely allied to, if really distinct from, the so-called
native bread of Tasmania.[AN]

Of the fungi employed in medicine, the first place must be assigned to
ergot, which is the sclerotioid condition of a species of _Claviceps_.
It occurs not only on rye but on wheat, and many of the wild grasses.
On account of its active principle, this fungus still holds its place
in the Materia Medica. Others which formerly had a reputation are now
discarded, as, for instance, the species of _Elaphomyces_; and
_Polyporus officinalis_, Fr., which has been partly superseded as a
styptic by other substances, was formerly employed as a purgative. The
ripe spongy capillitium of the great puff-ball _Lycoperdon giganteum_,
Fr., has been used for similar purposes, and also recommended as an
anodyne; indeed formidable surgical operations have been performed
under its influence, and it is frequently used as a narcotic in the
taking of honey. Langsdorf gives a curious account of its employment
as a narcotic; and in a recent work on Kamtschatka it is said to
obtain a very high price in that country. Dr. Porter Smith writes of
its employment medicinally by the Chinese, but from his own specimens
it is clearly a species of _Polysaccum_, which he has mistaken for
_Lycoperdon_. In China several species are supposed to possess great
virtue, notably the _Torrubia sinensis_, Tul.,[AO] which is developed
on dead caterpillars; as it is, however, recommended to administer it
as a stuffing to roast duck, we may be sceptical as to its own
sanitary qualities. _Geaster hygrometricus_, Fr., we have also
detected amongst Chinese drugs, as also a species of _Polysaccum_, and
the small hard _Mylitta lapidescens_, Horn. In India, a large but
imperfect fungus, named provisionally _Sclerotium stipitatum_, Curr.,
found in nests of the white ant, is