Sir J. E. Suiru's Account of Rhizomorpha medullaris. 873 
= fa pot am inclined to think him mistaken. The plant had a beautiful 
_ appearance in the water, from the fibres diverging in every direc- 
tion, and its whiteness, which was lost when it became dry. The 
extremities were peculiarly brittle. Even the agitation of the 
water broke off large quantities. This produced great inconve- 
nience, and several attempts were made to destroy the plant, 
by clearing it away; which not succeeding, the timber was, at 
length, removed. Oak has been substituted, smeared with tar, 
pitch and tallow, which has hitherto had the desired effect. The 
old beam has been used for other purposes."—Such is Mr. Bain- 
biigges very accurate account. Mrs. Hardcastle of Derby, to 
wi al bted for the drawings now laid before the Lin- 
nean tas tha she only. heard of this curious vege- 
table production by accident, after it had Jain by ten months in 
a dry state. Her drawing therefore represents this state only, and 
is here accompanied by a very small portion of the original spe- 
cimen. This, in its brown and shrivelled appearance, much re- 
sembles the roots of willows or poplars, such as often find their 
way under ground into some adjacent river, or water-course. 
These have often been brought for my inspection, and I must 
confess they have led me to doubt the existence of some reputed 
Rhizomorphe ; but I shall in future be more precise in my exa- 
minations, lest I should inadvertently confound with them 
genuine fungus. That the present is really of the latter descrip- 
tion, appears from its history, as well as from the texture of the 
dried plant, whose internal substance does not, like a root, con- 
sist of concentric circles, but of an uniform congeries of longitu- 
dinal parallel tubes, in the dried specimen at least, of a yellowish 
my 
colour. There is nothing like a central pith. And yet the brown d 
external coat, though not separable like the bark of a root, 
so great a resemblance to that part, as almost to sta 
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