Sir J. E. Smith's Account of Rhizomorpha vicduUaris. J73 



but 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- 

 brigge's very accurate account. Mrs. Hardcastle of Derby, to 

 whom I am indebted for the drawings now laid before the Lin- 

 n-oean Society, regrets that she only heard of this curious veoe- 

 table production by accident, after it had lain 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 

 'Rhizomorphie ; but I shall in future be more precise in my exa- 

 minations, lest I should inadvertently confound with them any 

 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 

 colour. There is nothing like a central pith. And yet the brown 

 external coat, though not separable like the bark of a root, bears 

 so great a resemblance to that part, as almost to stagger my 



3 c 2 opinion. 



