VI 



The Web of Life 



117 



we have considered the physiology of the leaf, we shall be 

 better able to understand how really helpful the two kinds 

 of elements which compose a lichen are to one another (see 



Fig. 6. — Patch of lichen grown synthetically by Bonnier (from sowing of fungus 

 spores on algae) under bacteriological precautions against entrance of foreign 

 spores. (After Bonnier.) 



chap. V.) Yet we already see that we have here a tiny 

 repetition of the organic universe, of the Balance of Nature 

 between plant and animal. The Hchenologist is no real 

 loser ; if his specimen has lost its individuality, it has gained 



