. III. DIST. CHAR. Prototype. 83 



most simple structure. have no distinct leaves or 

 stem.f (C generally of a fleshy or cork-like sub- 

 stance, and of short duration. The fructifications 

 disposed in gills, tubes, &c ." ( v. Hull's Introd. 

 Linn. Syst. p. xlix.) 



Obs. Fungi are not found in the fossil state. f f 

 b. 57. FLAGS ( Algte ) vegetables ' c of a gelati- 

 nous, membranous, coriaceous, filamentous, or crus- 

 taceous substance, and, for the most part, having no 

 distinct root, leaves, or stem. The fructifications 

 are various, as capsules, tubercles, &c." (v. Hull's 

 Introduct. Linn. Syst. p. xlix.) 



t What is usually considered as the stem in funguses is deno- 

 minated the stipe (stipes} by Linn&us. 



ft Thefungifes of authors are simple madrepores in the pe- 

 trified state, v. Syst. Arrangement, P. 2. Erismatolithus. 



Ferber, in his letters to Baron Born, mentions several petrified 

 funguses, as they were supposed to be, which he observed in differ- 

 ent collections m Italy. Some of these, according to his opinion, 

 were undoubted Boleti. Without adverting to the impossibility of 

 vegetable bodies, of such a perishable nature, having given their form 

 to petrifactions, it may be observed, that com/* sometimes affect the 

 structure of fungi so completely, that they have frequently been mis- 

 taken for such, when petrified. We lately met vfith a specimen 

 of fossil Millepore coral, which, in its general figure, as well as in 

 the structure and disposition of its pores, so perfectly imitated a 

 'Boletus, that it was not till after repeated examinations, we were 

 able to ascertain its real nature. In a cursory view of collections 

 such as a Tour usually affords, we think it not impossible, there- 

 fore, but that a naturalist even of Ferber's superior information 

 may have been misled by the deceptive appearance of specimens 

 of this kind, and the names imposed on them by their possessors. 



