286 FOOTNOTES FROM 



on the drifted wood, would seem to indicate that they 

 had not been recently formed, at least during the summer 

 in which they were found, but, on the contrary, that 

 they were the remains of the species which existed on 

 the drift-wood when used for fuel by the crews of the 

 Erebus and Terror. There can be no doubt whatever, 

 considering the circumstances in which they were found, 

 and the peculiar appearances they presented, that both 

 these fragments of wood were connected with the ill- 

 fated ships ; and the curious information regarding the 

 course they pursued at a particular time, afforded by such 

 extraordinary and unlikely witnesses as a few tiny, dark 

 specks of cryptogamic vegetation on floating drift-wood, 

 was wonderfully confirmed by the recent discovery of the 

 first authentic account ever obtained of the melancholy 

 history of the lost expedition. 



Having thus given a somewhat lengthened and de- 

 tailed account of the structure, properties, uses, and other 

 peculiarities of this curious and interesting tribe of plants, 

 it may be proper, in conclusion, to glance at the place 

 which they occupy as aesthetic objects iu this fair crea- 

 tion. The careful observer will find the universal spirit 

 of beauty sometimes as aptly and richly represented in 

 these productions of corruption and decay, as in the more 

 admired products of the vegetable kingdom. The very 

 commonest fungi, which grow in the darkest and dreariest 

 spots, are invested with a beauty, not absolutely essen- 

 tial to the part which they perform in the operations of 

 nature, or to the efficiency of the organs, whether of ab- 

 sorption or reproduction, with which they are furnished. 

 The fructification of one is a most graceful umbrella, 



