THE PAGE OF NATURE. 241 



the vinegar is allowed to evaporate, and the mycelium 

 in consequence becomes free from saturation, it produces 

 the usual fructification, and presents the common ap- 

 pearance of mould. Other fungi besides the blue mould 

 may assume the same remarkable form when placed under 

 similar conditions, and all of them may have the power 

 of producing vinegar. Indeed, it should not be so great 

 a matter of surprise, that fungi should assume such ex- 

 traordinary appearances, when prevented from develop- 

 ing their usual organs of fructification ; for do we not 

 find even among the flowering plants, which are not nearly 

 so plastic, or so susceptible to external influences, very 

 singular changes effected in their structure and conforma- 

 tion, by being kept in a barren and undeveloped state 1 

 The tree mignonette is a familiar instance of the change 

 effected in the structure of an annual plant, by being kept 

 from flowering during the natural period, and placed in 

 favourable circumstances ; and still more surprising illus- 

 trations will occur to the florist and botanist. It is 

 worthy of remark that the vinegar-plant, when well sup- 

 plied with food in an acetous solution, divides at a certain 

 stage of its growth into two distinct layers, which in 

 course of time would again increase in size and divide, 

 and so on, each layer being capable of removal to a 

 separate jar for the production of vinegar. This remark- 

 able mode of propagation by dividing into separate la- 

 minae, which has been taken advantage of in spreading 

 specimens of the plant among different individuals, re- 

 sembles the separation of buds in the rnedusa3, and the 

 merismatic mode of division by which the diatoms, and 

 many others of the lowest class of algae, extend themselves 

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