V 



126 



of the public by Dn Clayton, who, under the supposition that It was 

 a fungus belonging to the same order as puff-balls, sent it to Grono- 

 vius under the name of Lycoperdon solidu?n^ and, as such, described 

 it in the Flora Virginica. This was about one hundred and forty 

 years ago. Next it was described by Schweinitz, in his Synopsis of 

 the Fungi of North Carolina, under the name of Sclerofium cocos^ and 

 by Fries, in his Systema Mycologicum, under the name of Pachyma 

 cocos. At about the time Schweinitz described it, Dr. Macbride, of 

 South Carolina, communicated to the Linnaean Society of London 

 his own observations on the supposed fungus. The late Dr. Torrey, 

 unaware of the fact that he had been anticipated by Schweinitz, de- 

 scribed the production, about the year 1819, in the New York Re- 

 pository, under the name of Sclerotiuin giganteiun^ and also published 

 the results of a chemical analysis of it. Dr. Torrey ascertained that, 

 while chemical tests failed to detect the presence of starch (which 

 the microscope had also failed to show), the mass consisted almost 

 entirely of a singular substance which he called sclerotine. Bracon- 

 not, some years after this, described the same principle (which in 

 some of its modifications is the jelly of fruits) as pectine. Tuckahoe, 

 possessing no cellular structure, no mycelium and no trace of fructifi- 

 cation, was long ago removed from among the fungi, and is now con- 



J 



a sec- 



ondary product, caused by the degeneration of the tissues of some 

 flowering plant, in which a change has occurred similar to that which 

 converts animal tissue into adipocere, and in which the cellulose and 

 all pther principles are transformed into a body of the pectose group. 

 This, however, is conjecture merely, against the probable truth of 

 which is the fact that no intermediate states have been found, while 

 none, large or small, presents any trace of plant-structure. Owing 

 to the fact that it is sometimes found attached to the roots of trees, 

 especially those of the fir, Currey and Keller consider it to be an 

 altered state of these occasioned by the presence of a fungus, the 

 mycelium of which traverses, disintegrates, and even obliterates the 

 bark. This view seems to be sustained by the analyses of R. T. 

 Brown (187 1) and J. L. Keller (1876). The former found it to be 

 composed of water, 14 percent.; glucose, 0.93 per cent.; gum, 2.63 

 per cent.; pectose, 64.45 per cent; cellulose, 17.34 per cent.; ash, 

 0.16 per cent., and nitrogen only 0.36 per cent. Keller found 77.27 

 per cent, of pectose ; 3.76 per cent, of cellulose; 3.64 per cent, of 

 ash, and other things in about the same proportion as Brown did. 

 Owing to its chemical composition, the tuckahoe is very nutritious, 

 and was from early times used as a food by the Indians, as implied 

 in Its common names " Indian bread " and " Indian loaf." It is also 

 said to be employed, boiled in milk, as a substitute for arrowroot in 

 summer complaints, in the Southern States. 



_ A product which is thought to be the same as tuckahoe grows 

 m China, and IS sold as food in the streets of Shanghai under the 

 name of fUh-hng. An account of this is given by the Rev. M. J. 

 Berkeley in the Proceedings of the Linnaean Society of London.) 



Arthrocladia villosa, Duby.-Dr. Farlow records that this rare 

 and interesting alga was first found on the New England coast by 



