40 



THE PRESENT. 



Throwing these various groups into diagrammatic form, 

 we have first the Amphigens the fungi, lichens, and sea- 

 weeds whose homogeneous structure and simple modes of 



Amphigenous Aspect of Vegetation. 



growth are readily recognisable, even by the unscientific 

 observer. Lowly alike in their aspect and functions, they 

 cluster, as fungus-growths, over the decomposition and 

 decay of organised tissues ; mantle, as lichens, the surface 1 

 of the weathering rock and the mouldering trunk ; clothe, 

 as sea- weeds, the shelves and ledges of the shallower ocean, 

 or spread scum-like over the surface of the stagnant pool. 

 Decay and putrescence seem to be their appointed elements; 

 arid wherever the organic cell is on the verge of dissolution 

 into inorganic matter, there they are ready to appropriate 

 and reconvert it once more into the circle of vitality. The 

 pioneers of the higher orders, they elaborate a soil for their 

 growth ; cosmopolitan in habit, they are found where other 

 plants are unknown. Such are the Amphigens IIOAV ; does 



