LESSON'S I\ liuTAXV. 



MI 



to tho more common fo/ms of regular solids, and shall in our 

 ..--..ii < ..iiirnenoe the subject of land-surveying. 



i.SES IN LESSONS IN MENSUBATIO 

 EXEUCIHE 8. 



| a. 7,920 miles sad 8 inches. 



EXERCISE 9. 

 2. About 48-99 feet. | 



EXERCISE 10. 

 1. About 69- 16 miles. | _-. .,-. 



EXERCISE 11. 

 1. 49 feet 9 inches. | 2. 96. 



EXERCISE 12. 



4. Nearly 316-2 links 



and 69*6 yards. 



5. 65,600 square yards. 

 EXERCISE 13. 



2. 3 roods, 8 poles. 



EXERCISE 14. 

 2. About 1 acre, 3 roods, 17.} poles. 



1. About 35-35 feet. 



1. 100. 



J. 1, 



3. l-i. 



1. About 14-13. | 



3. 68 foot 



6. 3,530. 



7. <JO. 



8. 1*0 fort. 



3. 5 chains. 



L 451-5. 



-5. | 2. About 1 acre, 3 roods, 17.} poles. | 3. 1526*4. 

 4. Nearly 15 U | 5. 1 acre, 1 rood, 10 poles. 



EXERCISE 15. 

 1. Nearly 178. | 2. 311,008. 



LESSONS IN BOTANY. XLV. 



SECTION CXXIV. FUNGI (continual). 



THE Clathrus cancellatus, of which wo spoke before, is a most 

 remarkable fungus. Its lower portion, as exhibited in the cut 

 (Pig. 304), is white, the upper lattice-like part a bright coral hue. 

 It has only been found in two places in England, being an 

 inhabitant of the south of Europe. These two places are the 

 Isle of Wight and Torquay ; in this last-named place it has been 

 found in two localities. Mrs. Griffiths says, in describing those 

 first discovered : " It appeared in Mrs. Travers's garden at Tor- 

 quay, in rich reddish earth, formerly a plantation. When 

 Mrs. Travers gathered the fungus it was in a ball, and before 

 she could bring it into the house it had burst up to its height. 

 The scarlet part had a most vivid colour till the darker part 

 decomposed. I was so very much annoyed by the stench that I 

 could not take more pains with the drawing." In the autumn of 

 1853 other specimens were found of this curious plant in another 

 part of Torquay. 



The expansive growth of fungi, and their varied habitats, 

 must next call for a few remarks. Some of the facts supplied 

 us by authors on the former would bo considered as scarcely 

 credible, did they rest on less worthy evidence than that which 

 attests them. Sowerby states, that he has placed specimens of 

 the Phallus caninus, or ''stinking morel," on his window over 

 night, in the egg-shape, and found them next day fully grown ; 

 and another author speaks of his placing PliaUus impudicus 

 within a glass vessel, and its expanding so rapidly as to shiver 

 the glass to pieces with an explosive detonation as loud as that 

 of a pistol. Carpenter gives an account of a paving-stone, 

 twenty-one inches square, and weighing eighty-five pounds, 

 being raised an inch and a half from its station by a cluster of 

 toadstools springing up under it ; and many other facts, which 

 attest as well the expansive power as the rapid growth of 

 fungi, are related by different authors, one having been known 

 to attain the size of seven feet five inches in circumference, and 

 the weight of thirty-four pounds, in three weeks, and others the 

 weight of twelve pounds in a few days. But none of these 

 statements, remarkable as they are, are so wonderful as one which 

 was made by Sir Joseph Banks of a circumstance which occurred 

 under his own roof. He stated that a friend having sent him a 

 cask of wine, which was too new and sweet for present use, 

 it was locked up in a cellar to mature. At the end of three 

 years, Sir Joseph, supposing that time had now done its work, 

 proceeded to open his cellar and inspect its contents. Little 

 did he think how time had been employed, and little did he con- 

 ceive what would be the contents of that collar. The door 

 refused to open, and being invincible by gentle means, he had it 

 fairly cut away ; but he was no nearer effecting an entrance 

 than before. The cellar was found to be literally full of fungous 

 growth, which had borne the cask aloft to the ceiling, where it 

 stuck, upheld by fungi, the produce of the wine, which had all 

 leaked out and formed this monstrous growth { 



But altboafb the** monstrous Mid snddeo growth* oaQ for <mr 

 wonder and admiration of the power of Him who can Urns pro. 



' -.! . - - ... ..: .... . 



naked eye, and command that which is ao Minute to heoonM, in 

 a few boon, an orfaniMd structure of i 



complication of arrangement, we nnut not let or 

 adoration stop here ; for in the minuter growth*, 'which we 

 hall soon examine, we shall find a* wondrous MI rhfMttfffj of 

 urpassinjf skill as in these larger products. The miorosoopia 

 fungi those which, by fastening on his crops, bssomi the baa* 

 of the farmer, and are in God's hand* a means whereby he can 

 cut off oar staple article of food, and "destroy the staff of 

 bread," under the name of "the smut in wheat" (Puwfefe 

 <), or cause our bean or potato crops to perish am 

 among tho most surprising of vegetable production*, and will 

 hereafter engage oar attention. 



We hare already observed that the treasures of food whioh 

 it has pleased God to provide for us in the fungus tribe are, if 

 not wholly disregarded, at least by no means duly appreciated 

 by the English. There is, porhapn, no country richer than oar 

 own in tho esculent Hpecies of fungi ; they abound in our wood* 

 and pastures, they grow from the ground and under the ground ; 

 they spring abundantly oat of the substance of dead tree*, and 

 are often found on waste lands and heap* of rubbish, from 

 which no other edible produce can be procured; yet, though 

 this is the case, and more than thirty specie* of esculent fungi 

 are spontaneously brought forth in England, there are only 

 three or four of these specie* that are eaten by its inhabitant*, 

 all the rest of this abundant supply being allowed to rot under 

 the trees, or to become the prey of field-mice, toads, and slag*. 



Throughout the continent of Europe, on the contrary, plant* 

 of this tribe are eagerly sought after by all olsssos of men, and 

 form the chief, if not the sole, diet of thfinaiHn. who would 

 otherwise be but scantily provided with aliment. But fungi are 

 not only the tolerated food of the poorer classes, they are also 

 highly prized by the rich man and the epicure. In Italy and 

 Germany immense numbers of the various specie* of this tribe 

 are sold in the markets, and produce an almost incredible 

 amount of income. In Borne, so important are the fungi a* 

 an article of commerce, that there is a public officer appointed 

 to test the species exposed for sale, and superintend this 

 branch of the revenue ; for in that market a tax is laid on all 

 quantities of fungi presented for sale exceeding ten pounds in 

 weight. All fungi brought into Borne are supervised by this 

 officer, weighed, sealed up, and all destined for that day's con* 

 sumption sent to a central depot. If, among the content* of the 

 baskets offered, any stale, maggot-eaten, or dangerous specimena 

 are found, they are sent under escort, and thrown into the 

 Tiber ; and another remarkable circumstance is the law, that if 

 any specimen of our edible mushroom (Aganciu campestru) 

 is found, it also is to be thrown, into the river ! So says an un- 

 published letter of Professor Sanguinetti, " Ispettore del 

 Funghi" at Borne. It is certainly singular that the only fungus 

 which is freely accepted in all English kitchens, and considered 

 as the sole common kind that is honest and trustworthy, aad 

 possessed of no murderous properties, should be the on* tin* 

 protested against, whether in a state good or bad ! " For forty 

 days during the autumn, and for about half that period every 

 spring, large quantities of funguses, picked in the immediate 

 vicinity of Borne, from Frascati, Booca di Papa, Albano, beyond 

 Monte Mario, towards Ostia and the neighbourhood of the sites 

 of Veii and Gabii," are brought to Borne. " The return* of taxed 

 mushrooms alone," says Dr. Badham, "during the last tea 

 years, give a yearly average of betvteen $ixty and eighty tto*. 

 sand pounds weight ; and if we double this amount, which we 

 may safely do in order to include such smaller ontaxed snppliea 

 as are disposed of in bribes, fees, and present*, and reckon the 

 whole at the rate of six baiocchi, or threepence per pound (a fait 

 average), this will make the commercial value of freah funguse* 

 very apparent, showing it here to be little less than 48,001 

 a-year." Besides this, we must consider the dried, pickled, and 

 preserved supplies, which sell at a much higher prio* than the 

 frosh, from one shilling to one shilling and threepence per 

 pound, and also recollect that this calculation include* only the 

 Boman market, and that every other market-place in the Italian 

 states has its proportionate sale of this wide-spreading branch 

 of the vegetable produce of the land. 



With th above stataments fully in our mind, and after 



