FUNGI. LICUEXES. 91 



poets, ■n'as(as I am iiifonned hy f'.E. Broonio, Ksq.) an allied smooth yclloi,v spocics, 

 called TerffZ by the Arabs, aud Terfezia leonts by botanists. It is this species to 

 which Juvenal alludes — 



" Tibi habc frumentum, Allcdius inqiiit 

 Libj'e : disjungc boves, dum tubera mittas!" — Bat. V. 118. 



We know, however, from Martial that in the esteem of sonic they held a place 

 gastronomically speaking below mushrooms : 



" llumpimus altricem tenero quae vertioc torram 

 Tubera, — bolotis poma secunda sumus." 



Another curious member of this tribe is the genus Spharia, which germinates 

 within the body of a cateiinllar, giving rise to the foolish idea entertained bv some 

 of the change of the animal into a vegetable growth, as in the S. Jiobertsii from 

 New Zealand. 



JiA SIDIOSPOEIE^E. 

 Spores simple, home on rounded semiellipfic or conical ceUs, named basidia, which 

 terminate in 2-4 points [nferiflmata), each hearing a apore ; the haxidia are often accom- 

 panied hij other lurye projecting ccllx, transparent, acute, or ohtuxe, alwayx deprired nf 

 steriymata, to which hare been i/iven the name of cijxfideK. The basidia are borne on the 

 gills, folds, reins and processes of the receptacle ; sometimes in conceptacles, the cavities 

 of which they line. 



Basidiosporiecs embrace the familiar ' puff-balls ' and the common mushroom, 

 Agaricus campestris, the only species which is habitually and easily cultivated. 

 Several species of this tribe are edible, and some are very poisonous ; but it is a 

 tolerably safe plan to follow the indications ati'orded by the natives of a country, 

 who generally are well aware of the properties of the edible species, though iu 

 England far more ignorance on this matter prevails among its rustic inhabitants than 

 among a similar class in foreign countries. The edible fungi of Burma are, Jiowever, 

 as yet hardly known, or the place where they are found, or the vernacular names 

 they are kuuwn by. 



Order LICHENES. 



Terrestrial plants. Thallus coriaceous and irregularly lobcd, or erect, or a mere 

 crust, various in colour and consistence. Fructification of two sorts. 1. Apothecia, 

 which arc superficial, marginal, or sunk in the fronds, and contain or consist of 

 vertical densely-packed tubes or sacs (sporangia), containing two to four spores. 

 2. Spermogonia, which are spherical bodies sunk in the substance of the frond, 

 whose inner surface is lined with filaments [steriymata), which support slender 

 transparent coqiuscules called spermatia, the functional homologues of the antheridia. 



The systematic ])osition of Lichens has given rise to much discussion, and .wmo 

 botanists hold that their separation from Fungi is uncalled for. This view is 

 supported by the curious behaviour of antherozoids of Lichens and Fungi under tlio 

 influence of electricity from an induction coil (for static and Voltaic currents do not 

 ONcite the ])henoraena), nothing like which is observable in the antherozoids of 

 Ilepaticas and Mosses. Observed in water, under the microscope, these bodies 

 execute two extremely (piick movements, one oscillatory, the other jirogressivc, 

 though no vibratile hairs can be detected. To observe the cficcts of electricity, 

 the glass plate for the object sliould be traversed by two grooves, crossing at right 

 angles; in each groove a metallic thread should lie flrndy cemented, and the thread 

 leave in the middle of the glass a free space, wherein the corpuscules swim. The 

 induction apparatus is a reel, the generator being a simple cell of bichromate of 

 potash. Now with antherozoids of JTepaticce and Mosses in the field of the micro- 

 scope, no result in their movements is produced by the induced current, and their 

 relative positions remain unchanged, even when on the direct path of a strong 

 current. Very different, however, is the behaviour of the antherozoids of Lichens 



