Deadly rivals of man and beast for the life-sustaining juices of the earth's green plants are a vigorous group of non-green plantsthe fungi. For ages men watched helplessly while these vegetable vampires literally sucked the green blood of plants, wasted their crops. But about 100 years ago, men armed themselves with scientific weapons and began a desperate warstill ragingagainst the fungal underworld. Last fortnight, in The Advance of the Fungi (Holt; $4), British Chemist E. C. Large offered a vivid story of the last century's battles, a brilliant reconnaissance of the enemy's present positions.
Fungi (with the algae which do have chlorophyll)...