JANUARY. 65 



and dilatation of the chains interspersed among the 

 sporules, which continues till the whole of them, are 

 violently expelled from their nidus. This is evident by 

 placing an unexpanded theca on the ledge of a pane 

 of glass in the sun, when a lens will exhibit the most 

 singular commotion within the theca as soon as its 

 valves open, as if an immense number of minute 

 serpents were writhing in the most dreadful agonies, 

 and combating each other with unmitigable fury till 

 not one was left alive upon the field. 



The Lichens are now in glorious perfection on rock 

 and tree, tempting the foot to the broken rocks of 

 alpine solitudes, or the dark and devious recesses of 

 the grove and forest. It is but lost time attempting 

 to dislodge lichens from the rocks in summer when 

 skinning flints is really hard work ; but at this time, 

 expecting no visitants, they are taken by surprise, 

 and easily secured, as the frost either scales off the 

 rock with the lichens upon it, or the moisture swells 

 the lichen above the surface to which it is so closely 

 attached in the burning heats of summer. Thus 

 captured, the vital principle becomes suspended in 

 the crustaceous lichen, to be again renewed, however, 

 at whatever distance of time, when exposed to the 

 external atmosphere. 



