•JO ROMANCE OF LOW LIFE AMONGST PLANTS. 



even to a grain of sand, but that the thaHus is de- 

 veloped freely, as was at first declared by Pallas. 

 Treviranus says that specimens supposed to have 

 descended from the clouds at Mount Ararat exist 

 in the Museum of the Armenian convent of St. 

 Lazzaro, in an island of that name near Venice. 



This curious production is eaten both by men 

 and animals in the several countries extendinor from 

 Algiers to Tartary, where it is produced. The sheep, 

 however, which feed upon it in Algiers, it is said, do 

 not thrive, in consequence, it is supposed, of the large 

 amount of oxalate of lime which it contains, amount- 

 ing, according to Gobel's analysis, to nearly sixty-six 

 per cent. The individual plants weigh from a few grains 



to two scruples or 

 upwards, even when 

 dry, and when 

 swollen with mois- 

 ture nearly twice 

 as much. Of the 

 two species Leca- 

 iiora esailenta is 

 the one which was 

 known to Pallas, 



Fig. ^2.-Lecanora affinis. ^j^ J which haS the 



central portion consisting of loose threads, which 

 gradually become more densely packed towards the 

 circumference, forming an extremely close cellular 

 network. In Lecanora affinis, which is the second 

 form received from Erzeroum, the v/hole substance is 

 compact, with few, if any, free threads. 



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